


Webs & Iron

by MissBreePhoenix



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Banter, Crossover, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Multiple Crossovers, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:39:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 56,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2106636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissBreePhoenix/pseuds/MissBreePhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spider-Man isn't the only hero in New York and it seems the daughter of a certain hero will change everything for him; however, it won't just be his world that'll be turned upside-down, but hopefully S.H.I.E.L.D., bad guys and a very overprotective father won't get so much in the way. Based off the Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Avengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New York

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! I'm so excited to work on this story. I'm hoping you guys will enjoy reading as much as I have enjoyed writing this. :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

Many people would wonder how the hell did my life become the way it is now. Sure, being the adopted daughter of the world’s famous billionaire genius—who was also the world’s most famous superhero—had always made my life different. And it certainly wasn’t that I was also one of the youngest S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the history of the agency—it totally caught my father by surprise that I was an agent since I was a child. So, no, my life hadn’t drastically changed because of something I did; it was more of a certain someone entering my life to turn it upside-down—no pun intended to said someone. My life changed the day my father had us officially relocate to New York.

Everyone in the company knew that the boss had to do what was best for the company but what I didn’t like was that I was in my last year of high school and I had to transfer. I had always lived in Los Angeles and Malibu after I was adopted. Pepper Potts, my father’s former personal assistant, current business associate/CEO of Stark Industries and girlfriend, had her hands tied in either convincing my father to letting us stay in California or that she’d stay with me and handle everything from the West Coast, but it was completely impossible. So, I had no other option: I had to move and I didn’t want to do that at all. But if we hadn’t moved to New York, I probably never would have met a boy that changed my life and everything else with it. I never would have met Peter Parker.                                                                            

However, I should start from the beginning. It all started when we moved to New York—an entire eight months after the incident with a psychotic Asgardian named Loki who wanted to rule Earth. Thankfully the Avengers—a group of select individuals that consisted of my father, the Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Black Widow—stopped him and saved what was left of Manhattan. I suppose that was another reason why I didn’t want to move to New York, the idea of all the craziness that happened there freaked me out and I was still shaken up after that. Even though I wasn’t part of the Avengers, I was still able to help the others as much as I could and nearly lost my father in the process. I thought that a couple years ago when he was kidnapped but managed to come back to us would have been the last time. However, when Pepper and I found out about him creating a robotic suit to be some sort of defender of the innocent, we thought it was just another one of Tony’s insane ideas. Tony, and his stubborn nature, thought we overthink things and believed everything would be fine but he also knew that we just worry for him—me mostly since he was the only family I had. Adopted parent or not, Tony Stark was someone I grew to really care about.

Looking at the huge penthouse apartment that we were living in, I kept thinking that I was in some sort of bad dream and I was waiting to wake up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a bad dream—everything was real and right now I was getting ready to leave with Pepper to go finish registering at my new high school. Pepper thought that I would have been better off back in private school, Tony thought otherwise. He believed that I would do fine at Midtown Science, a school that was making me want to gag from just the name alone. If I had it my way, I would have chosen to be home schooled instead; I _really_ didn’t want to start over again at a new school. I didn’t really feel comfortable around people my age, not after what I had been through or with my last name shadowing me like some ominous cloud. But, of course, Tony had other plans for me.

Sighing, I finished brushing my straight dark hair and then finished off by applying my mascara. I didn’t feel like putting much makeup on today, it didn’t really seem necessary. Pepper and I were just going to finish the school registration and then run some errands most of the afternoon. When I was finished, I went to my closet and took out my gray coat—one of the few coats and jackets that I had barely begun placing in my closet. Everything just seemed so rushed: I barely had any sleep from the plane ride over here, barely had time to unpack my belongings and I barely had time to get my new dog settled in to our new apartment. Tony didn’t want us to get a pet in the first place but he got me a German Shepherd puppy just so I could have some form of a companion until I stopped being anti-social with people in the new school—at least that was how he saw it. I slipped on the coat and looked at myself in the mirror again; I was a petite seventeen-year-old, standing at five-foot-four with an athletic frame but had the necessary curves, porcelain skin, blue eyes and a very youthful face—something that didn’t help too much when it comes to being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

“Alison.” I heard a muffled voice say, followed by three knocks on the door.

“Yes?” I asked, going over to the door, opened it and saw Pepper on the other side.

“Are you ready? We need to head over to the school and Happy already has the car ready for us,” she said, holding a folder with my information in one hand and her cellphone in the other.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” I nodded, showing her that I was fully dressed and had my shoes on.

“Great! And I must say that your outfit looks really cute today,” she smiled warmly.

“Thanks, Pepper,” I smiled back, glancing down at my simple outfit of skinny jeans, black and white converse, gray and black striped long sleeved V-neck shirt, and gray coat.

She herself looked pretty professional with her attire: slacks with a light gray blouse—neatly ironed—flats and her red hair tied up in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She stood at five-foot-seven with a heart-shaped face, but had very strong facial features, and yet still had femininity to it. If it weren’t her day off today, I would have thought she was going to work.

“I have everything with me, do you have what you need?” she asked, always thinking and looking out for me.

“Yes, Pepper, I have everything.” I went over to my dresser and grabbed my purse, showing it to her.

“Good, now let’s get going because we have a very busy day today.” She walked away from the door, her flats clanking on the hardwood floor. Ever since she and my father began dating, Pepper didn’t wear heels as often since the both of them were roughly the same height—Tony only being two inches taller. However, I did feel a bit better sometimes when she didn’t around me as well—I was already short and standing next to her made me appear pretty tiny.

“I’m still not looking forward to attending a new school,” I sighed, following her into the living room where my puppy was in his playpen. I wished I could take him with us; Happy could look after him in the car while we were in the office but Tony wasn’t too keen on the idea of the dog being in the car all the time.

“Believe me, sweetie, I know you don’t but you have to finish up your education,” Pepper said, going over to check if there was enough water in my puppy’s, Charlie’s, bowl.

“I’ve already put water in there for him,” I spoke up, causing her to look my way.

“Sorry, I just had to check. This little guy is so quiet all the time but when he just sees us, he gets so jumpy.” She smiled at him and walked over to me.

“I think that’s because he knows we’re going out,” I glanced over to him, seeing his big brown eyes looking so bright. “Can’t we take him with us?”

“Honey, you know your dad doesn’t really want him in the car,” she said and walked over to the door, her keys in hand. “But I promise that later you and I can go take him for a long walk.”

_“You are aware that I am more than capable of locking the door for you, Ms. Potts,”_ the computerized voice of the apartment’s artificial intelligence, Jarvis, spoke up. My father mostly used Jarvis originally but he felt like it was okay to share him in the “home environment.”

“I know that, Jarvis, but it’s a habit that I can’t kick,” Pepper said. “I’m just taking the keys with me so I can open the door when we get back.”

“Jarvis can open it for us, too,” I commented, receiving a playful glare from Pepper.

“Come on, you; we have to get this thing finished at your new school.” She opened the door, waiting for me to walk out.

“Jarvis, please make sure Charlie is fine while we’re gone,” I requested, hesitating by the doorway.

_“I’ll do the best I can for your puppy, Miss Stark,”_ Jarvis responded, although I wasn’t sure if that calmed me.

“Thank you.” I glanced one last time at my puppy and walked out of the apartment.

Pepper closed the door and before she could put the key in, the clicking sound of the lock indicated that Jarvis locked the door. “Well, I guess that’s taken care of,” she muttered, putting the key in her purse and we both walked over to the elevator.

“I really don’t want to go, Pepper,” I moaned, hating that I was practically whining as I pushed the down button for the elevator.

“Oh, Alison, you are so much like Tony that it scares me,” she sighed, sounding almost exasperated.

“I’m sorry but…I can’t help it.” I bit my lip, a bad habit of mine to show whenever I was nervous. “I’m just not ready to start over again.”

“Trust me, honey: everything will be fine. We’re only here for one year and before you know it, you’ll be off at college and you can go to any one you want back in California.” She looked up and walked in, with me close behind her.

“That’s what I’m planning to do,” I confessed. “And do whatever I want.”

“Although, I think we both know that Tony would rather you join the family business,” she smirked, watching the numbers count back.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah…I’m not so sure if I’m ready to take over Stark Industries. I know Tony kind of had no choice, but I’m not sure if that’s for me.”

“You know how Tony is—well, now ever since what happened to him years ago.”

I nodded, glancing at the door as it finally slides open. Pepper and I walked out of the elevator, through the lobby and out the door where the doorman greeted us.

“Good morning, ladies,” he smiled, tipping his hat to us.

“Good morning,” Pepper smiled back.

“Good morning,” I timidly said. It was different to have this; back in California we lived in a Malibu beachside mansion—no doormen at all. Only Jarvis.

Walking a bit further away from the door was my father’s chauffeur and bodyguard, Happy Hogan. Happy, who used to be a former boxer but would usually lose, began working for my father a little after he adopted me and he would always look out for all of us.

“Hi, Happy,” I greeted, slowly walking over to the car.

“Come on, Alison,” Pepper said, walking ahead of me. “If you don’t get in this car, Happy might have to drag you in.”

“He touches me, I’m telling Tony,” I retorted.

“Oh yes, the very overprotective father card. As if I haven’t heard that one before,” Happy said, opening the back passenger door for Pepper and me.

“It’s always kept boys away,” I quipped, walking over to Pepper.

“And there she goes again with that one,” he muttered. “But she’s got a point.”

I nodded, glancing at him while Pepper got in the car first and then got in after. Happy closed the door and lightly jogged over to the driver’s side.

“Are you still upset about what happened with that dance you planned to go to?” Pepper asked, her motherly tone coming back in.

“Kind of,” I muttered admittedly, looking out the window as Happy started the car and slowly eased into the New York traffic. “I mean, my father is Tony Stark: billionaire, genius, playboy, philanthropist—though he has slowly stopped being a playboy—and Iron Man. It just intimidates everyone I meet. Not to mention, it also earned me a lot of fake friends.”

“Honey, Tony apologized for that and helped you keep the real friends that you have—”

“More like had,” I interrupted her, remembering that I felt equally awkward around those so-called ‘friends,’ too.

“And I’m sure you can do the same here in New York,” she finished, ignoring that I interrupted her.

“Yeah, with that bright personality you have, I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends,” Happy said, no sarcasm in his voice at all.

“If you guys say so,” I muttered, looking out of the window.

“So just the school and then a couple of errands, Pepper?” Happy asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

“Yes, it’s nothing but a day full of school related activities,” Pepper said, looking at her phone.

I continued looking out the window and took out my earbuds to listen to my music. Pepper knew how I’d get sometimes when I needed some alone time; she did wish I wouldn’t resort to it but it was a good way to help me relax. Just listening to the relaxing music on my phone and watching the scenery change outside seemed like a good thing right now. As I kept looking out the window, I noticed something that quickly caught my attention. Seeing that Happy stopped the car, I rolled down the window, took out my phone and snapped a picture of the design before he started driving off.

“What did you take a picture of, Alison?” Pepper asked as I rolled up the window and looked over at the picture.

“This really cool looking design of a spider,” I answered, not taking my eyes off of the picture, and removed my earbuds.

It was graffiti art and I’d see a lot of it back home but this one was different. It was a spider—a red spider—designed with its legs having sharp lines and edges, and making it almost look like an important symbol.

When I finally showed Pepper the image, she looked at it with a puzzled look. “Huh, that’s funny. There seems to be a lot of this around here.”

“You’ve seen this before?” I asked, looking at the image again.

“Of course, when Tony and I got here last month, we’ve seen a lot of it.”

“This looks familiar, though,” I mused, thinking back to where I’ve seen it myself.

“You two talking about that spider drawing that’s on almost every building here?” Happy asked, glancing at us through the rearview mirror.

“Yes Happy,” Pepper answered, while I was too busy thinking over about where I had seen this spider design before.

“That is the sign of Spider-Man,” he said, switching lanes.

“Spider-Man?” I asked, looking up at him for the first time since I took the picture.

“Yeah, he’s like some sort of ‘protector of the innocent’ here in New York,” he answered, glancing at me through his rear view mirror and cut the engine. “And we’re here.”

I was confused for a moment and then looked out the window to see that we were at the school. “No, wait, I want to hear more about this Spider-Man.”

“Sorry, Alison, but we have to get inside and get this done,” Pepper said as Happy got out of the car and jogged over to my side of the car to open the door.

I sighed, “Fine,” and grabbed my things.

As I stepped out of the car I took in the building in front of me. It looked like any other ordinary school: tall buildings, green grass and trees everywhere to make it look pretty, benches around for students to sit, and the welcome sign that always seemed to give off the week’s announcements. On the outside it didn’t really seem like a science only school—unless they just gave it the name to seem like it was meant for one subject. However, despite it looking ordinary, it still felt intimidating; I wasn’t sure how in the world I could handle this place by myself.

“Ready to head in?” Pepper asked, breaking me away from my examinations.

“Yeah, I suppose I am,” I answered, feeling even more nervous as Pepper began walking and I followed close behind.

As we walked in, I noticed a couple of students walking around; perhaps these were the ones that had a free period. I looked around the hall, checking out the various posters that were posted on the walls. Basketball, debate team, chess club…just so many different things everywhere.

“This school definitely has a lot of different activities here, doesn’t it?” Pepper mused, glancing at me.

“Yeah, it does,” I agreed, looking around still.

When we reached the office, we asked to see the principal and went straight away to getting everything set up. The principal, Mr. Marks, was very impressed with my transcripts and my high grades; he believed that I was the “kind of student Midtown Science needed.” Of course, I felt like that could have been a huge load of crap because I was more than positive that there were students that were either just as smart or smarter than I am. Although, I find the latter might not be true. It usually was hard to find someone smarter than me; I usually took comfort in the fact that Tony, Bruce Banner and a few others helped with that. After a while, he just seemed to drone on and on about how amazing it was to have a Stark attend his school; it was all too much for me to handle so I decided to excuse myself out of the office by saying that I had to use the restroom.

“Okay, why don’t you take care of that and I’ll take care of this,” Pepper said, knowing that I was incredibly bored thanks to the principal.

“All right, I’ll be back as fast as I can, Pepper,” I smiled, getting up from my seat, and walked out of both the principal’s and main office.

I let out a sigh of relief when I made it outside to the courtyard. Walking around, I was taking in the scenery this place had to offer. Trees, flowers and cute little squirrels running around. It seemed so peaceful, like there wasn’t anything that could ruin it. Although, I was pretty sure that there might be some fights here and there to ruin this atmosphere. As I continued to walk around, I saw someone crouched down by a bush. I was sure that it wasn’t that big of a deal but I couldn’t help myself from being curious about what this person was doing. It was a boy with brown hair and if his back wasn’t facing me I could have made out more of his features. I wanted to get a better look but it was almost like he knew I was staring at him; he stopped whatever it was that he was doing and turned around to look where I was standing.

I tensed and looked somewhere else, walking in the other direction so he wouldn’t see me, but I was certain that I was too late. That boy saw me. _Way to go, Alison_ , I scolded myself. I hadn’t even started school and I already might have freaked out one of the students here. It seemed like instead of being known as Tony Stark’s “normal” adoptive daughter, I might now be known as Tony Stark’s creepy adoptive daughter that just stares at people.

I walked a bit further along near the trees, hoping that I was a little further away from the boy I saw. I only caught a glimpse of his face and noticed that he was kind of cute. Not that I’d be able to date right now anyway. With my line of work and my overprotective father, I didn’t have time to date. Not to mention it was never easy to find anyone that could ever understand or shared the same life experiences.

As I continued to walk, I didn’t notice the skateboard on the ground and tripped over it. I was about to hit the concrete face first until I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, stopping my fall. Gasping, I was shocked. Who could’ve made it so quickly to where I was to save me from falling? Well, “save me” seemed like a bit too much but at least I wouldn’t have to make up an excuse to Pepper about any possible scratches. My rescuer straightened me up and then slowly backed away.

“That was a really close call,” a male voice said behind me.

“Yeah, that was. Um, thank you,” I said, turning around and looked to see that it was the same boy I was staring at earlier.

I tensed, getting nervous again; I didn’t want this guy to think I was some weird girl that stared at people too much. Biting my lip, I kept my mouth shut—hoping that he might not ask why I was staring at him earlier.

“Uh, are you all right?” he asked, sounding concerned. “You look pretty nervous about something.”

“I’m really sorry for staring earlier,” I blurted, feeling my eyes widening from the sudden outburst.

“Oh,” he chuckled, waved it off. “Don’t worry about that. I’m used to people staring or just ignoring me while I’m taking pictures.” He held up his camera that was hung from a strap on hiss shoulder.

“You’re a photographer?” I asked, looking with such curiosity rather than distain at the camera. The paparazzi wouldn’t dare hide out at local high schools, right?

“Kind of. I mean, I’m not really a professional but I do take a lot of pictures. And I’m also the school’s photographer,” he said.

I nodded, slowly feeling comfortable again. I looked up at him, noticing that he was really cute. He was tall—probably around six feet—had a strong jawline, straight nose; his face appeared to make him look so much like a late teenager, just entering into adulthood—something I wished I had. However, I couldn’t look away from his eyes; deep chocolate brown that could make any girl’s heart melt.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry I hadn’t properly introduced myself,” he apologized, holding out his hand to me, and smiled an adorable smile. “I’m Peter Parker.”

“Hi, I’m Alison Stark,” I smiled back, placing my hand in his, and shook them.

His eyes squinted a bit in confusion as he let go of my hand. “Stark? Wait, you’re Tony Stark’s daughter, aren’t you?”

I nodded, instantly regretting ever saying my last name to him and suppressed a sigh, “Yes, I am Tony Stark’s daughter.” _Here we go…_

“Wow, it’s a pleasure to actually meet you,” he said, looking and sounding genuine about it. “There were rumors going around that you were going to school here in New York but I didn’t think you would attend our school. It’s really awesome.”

“I-it is?” I asked, feeling a bit confused by this. “Most of the time people just run as soon as they hear that I’m a Stark.”

“Really? Why would they?” he questioned, confused. “I mean, your father is one of the few billionaires that is actually willing to use clean energy resources in his new building. Not many people seem to realize who great that’ll be for the world’s future.”

I tried with great difficulty not to smile at what he just said—it was the exact same thing Tony and I were saying when he first came up with the idea of it for the Stark Tower.

“Yes, but some people aren’t really fond of the other thing about my father,” I countered a bit quietly.

“You mean how he’s Iron Man?” he quirked a brow.

“That would be it,” I answered, quietly clicking my tongue against my teeth. “Most people think that Iron Man can cause more harm than good.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be sure since he pretty much saved New York in the spring.”

“It wasn’t just him, you know,” I smirked, thinking back to that day. Of course when I was there I used a camouflage devise to help disguise myself so others didn’t recognize me. I still felt really proud about that. 

“Yeah, I know that but it doesn’t mean that Tony Stark should cause fear or intimidation in others anymore,” he said, reaching down and picked up the skateboard off the ground. The _same_ skateboard I tripped on.

“Wait a sec, is that _your_ skateboard?” I asked, eying it as I thought back to what happened not long ago.

“Um, yeah,” he chuckled nervously, slipping off his backpack and placed his skateboard between the straps of it. “I left it here thinking that no one was going to come near this part of the courtyard at all.”

I nodded slowly, thinking again about how I remembered that Peter was a little more than twenty feet away from where I was walking. “That’s weird.”

“What is?” He looked at me curiously.

I forgot that I spoke out loud; there really wasn’t much for me to get out of this. “How did you get over to me so fast? I mean, you were, like, nowhere near me at all.”

“Oh, that.” He cleared his throat. “Well, when you looked away I was a bit curious since you’re obviously new here, and I guess I just couldn’t look away from you.”

It was difficult to believe that since it did seem true. Thanks to my training with S.H.I.E.L.D. I was able to spot liars a mile away, and it was difficult right now with Peter Parker. There was something about Peter that made it difficult to read him and I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t dwell on it that much longer, maybe there wasn’t much of a chance that I’d get to know Peter Parker during the school year. This high school was pretty big and it might not be possible that I’d see him so often.

“Um, well, thanks—I suppose,” I smiled shyly.

“So, it’ll be your first day here soon?” he asked, grabbing his camera and played with the settings on it.

“Yeah, I’m starting tomorrow,” I answered, watching his hands on the camera. “My dad’s girlfriend is inside getting my stuff set for me. I was there for a while but Principal Marks was…I guess praising my accomplishments too much. Not really into that.”

He nodded. “Well, I’m sure they’re finished by now. If you want, I can walk you back to the office?”

“Sure, I’d like that,” I smiled, thinking it was a nice of him to do this and how surprised I was at how comfortable I was around Peter.

Peter picked up his backpack and skateboard, and we started walking out of the courtyard. It was strange being around another boy, or pretty much anyone around my age. Whenever that’d happen, someone would just ask questions about my father or how much money I had, or how it was like living with Iron Man. I was hopeful that it would be a quiet school year.

“So, how long have you been in New York?” he asked, still having his camera in his hands.

“I just got here last night,” I sighed quietly. “I’m still tired and haven’t done much unpacking because my dad wants us to get the important things finished first.”

“Just curious, does he ever sleep?” He looked at me, brow raised with a lot of curiosity. “You know, since he’s having you get a lot of stuff done and you haven’t slept well. If that’s okay for me to ask.”

I thought about it and slowly realized that Tony hadn’t really been sleeping properly anymore. Sure, he didn’t really sleep much before but recently Tony would be up in the middle of the night and well into the morning. “He does but not for long,” I answered, hoping to just leave it at that.

“Well, I’m sure one day he can try to relax and take a much needed break,” he suggested.

I scoffed, “Sorry but for a while I’d suggest that to my dad, he won’t really do it. Maybe a bit later but…I don’t see it happening any time soon.”

He nodded again, and held up his camera to face me. I was stunned but smiled as best as I could before the flash went off. Once it was taken, he pulled the camera away from his face and smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, I can’t help myself sometimes. The lighting and setting was perfect and you looked really nice,” he said, realizing what he had done and his brown eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I won’t do it again without your consent.”

“Don’t worry, you just caught me off guard,” I shrugged. At least it wasn’t like the one time where I was ambushed by paparazzi— _that_ was definitely bad.

“I really mean it, though. I don’t want you to think that I’ll be one of those guys that’ll give this up to the media or anything like that.”

“Were you planning to do that?” I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him an accusing look.

“Um, no. I-I-I really wasn’t going to do it. I swear—I really won’t do it again,” he stammered nervously.

“Hey, it’s okay. I was only kidding,” I told him, uncrossing my arms and felt a little bad for messing around like that with him. “You seem too much of a nice guy to do that to someone.”

“Okay, because you really scared me with that,” he sighed in relief and laughed weakly. “It’s kind of scary now when I think of your father.”

“I thought people shouldn’t fear or be intimidated by my father anymore?” I asked, repeating what Peter said earlier, and smirked.

“No, I know that they shouldn’t but how I’ve never really met the man—it seems like he’s one of those fathers that’s pretty protective of their daughters,” he admitted, slowly coming to a stop.

I noticed that we were really close to the main office. How did I not realize this? I was usually alert and aware of my entire surroundings—well, I _was_ always alert and aware until I ran into Peter. There was something about this Peter Parker that seemed to make me nearly forget that—hopefully Pepper didn’t find out.

“Well, you got that right. Tony is very protective of me,” I admitted, saying Tony’s actual name for the first time in front of Peter. It wasn’t often I called him by his first name in front of others that weren’t in the tight circle of people I’d trust.

“Do you know why that is?” he asked, curious.

Before I could answer him, I heard my name being called. “Alison!”

Turning around, I saw Pepper standing by the office door and looking in our direction.

“One second,” I said, turning back to Peter. “I’d better go. My…mother of sorts is ready for us to go get the rest of our errands finished.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s perfectly understandable,” Peter said, giving me a crooked smile. “Um, I’ll see you tomorrow. Well, that is _if_ I see you tomorrow.”

I shrugged, “You never know. Things happen,” I smiled. “See you later, Peter.”

“See you, Alison.” His smiled never wavered one bit.

I walked over to Pepper, who was smiling kindly to Peter. When I reached her, she linked our arms, and we walked to the school’s entrance. Glancing behind me, I saw Peter still standing there and smiled at him again—which he returned.

“So, who’s your new friend?” Pepper asked when we were earshot away from Peter.

“His name is Peter.” And I must say, I wasn’t much against the idea of having Peter Parker as a friend at all.


	2. First Day. First Impressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little longer than I thought, I was distracted with things happening and I'm very sorry for that. But I hope everyone enjoys the chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

“Oh, man. I think I bought enough clothes to last me until my senior year of college,” I said, hauling four large bags of clothes with me from the elevator.

“Well, you did leave most of your other things back in L.A. believing that you could convince Tony to let us move back, but after today…I don’t think you will,” Pepper smirked, following me with a few of her own bags and my purchases, and walked to our door.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, confused as to what she could mean.

“That boy you met today at school.” She glanced at me as she stopped in front of the door.

“You mean Peter? He was just being friendly,” I said, watching her open the door, and entered with most of the stuff.

“I’m sure that’s what he was doing,” she giggled, a teasing tone in her voice. 

I followed her with my own things and nearly kicked the door closed until Happy followed us inside with more stuff. 

“Oops,” I bit my lip, embarrassed that I forgot about him. “Sorry, Happy.”

“Last time I go shopping with you two,” he muttered, bringing in more bags.

“Oh, Happy, I’m sure this is the first of many that’ll happen since we’re going to be here,” Pepper said, placing the bags near the coffee table.

I dropped my own bags near hers and made my way over to my puppy. Charlie was really happy to see me; his ears picked up and tail wagging with excitement. I smiled at him, opened the door to his crate and felt him jump into my arms, licking my cheek affectionately. 

“Charlie!” I squeaked, holding back a laugh as I scratched behind his ears.

“Looks like he really missed you,” Pepper commented, coming over to where Charlie and I were.

“He did,” I giggled, moving Charlie back as he tried licking my face again. 

Hearing a phone ring, I looked up and saw Pepper answer her cell phone. “Hello? Yes, this is Virginia Potts.” There was pause, I watched Pepper’s brows furrow. “Yes, but I specifically asked that they’d move—” Another pause. “Of course…I’ll-I’ll be right there,” she sighed heavily and ended the call.

“What happened?” I asked, letting go of Charlie, and got up.

“That was the contractor and the interior decorator, and they were doing some last minute touchups in your father’s office, but it seems like they made a _very_ huge mistake. So now I have to go over there to take care of everything before Tony sees it.” She rubbed her temples, and grabbed her things. 

“Wait, he’s not there?” I asked, confused. He said he was going to be at both Stark Tower and the labs to check on everything.

“He was there, but I’m guessing he went to the labs.”

“So I guess I’ll be here by myself, right?” I muttered, feeling my mood go down a bit. Can never assume things will be a just at home day. 

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I know you wanted us to have a day to ourselves, but if I don’t see what is wrong, then there will be problems between your father and the people we thought would listen to us,” she explained, wrapping her arms around me like a mother would for her child.

Though, that was the thing: Pepper is not my mother. My actual mother died when I was eight and then Tony Stark adopted me. Sometimes I wouldn’t mind it if Pepper would adopt me, too, because she has always treated me like I was her own child. It was great to always have her around; for a while Tony was never really there—which always made people wonder why he even adopted me in the first place. But, little did they know, there were always small acts of Tony’s kindness that made me grow to love and respect him like a kid should for their parent. Of course, Pepper got that much faster than he did but it still happened—especially a lot after his kidnapping and return years ago.

I nodded; she pulled away and fixed my hair, smiling her motherly smile at me. “I promise that as soon as I get back, we’ll have our walk with Charlie.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll ask Happy to help me out,” I said, glancing at him for help.

“Yeah, I’ll be with her when she walks the dog,” he agreed, giving me a quick glance of his own. Happy didn’t really have anything against Charlie; it was just that I kind of put him on the spot because I couldn’t really think of anything else that might probably cheer Pepper up.

“Okay,” Pepper murmured, walking over to the coffee table to retrieve her purse. She looked back in my direction. “I’m really sorry, Alison. I will make this up to you.”

“No, don’t worry, Pepper. It’s completely fine. Things always happen, I get it,” I said, giving her the best reassuring smile I could give.

She looked at me, not knowing if she should accept the smile or not. But, luckily, she did; she graced me with one of her own, and looked to Happy. “Do you mind driving me to the Tower?”

“No, not at all,” he answered, going over to the door.

“And make sure you come back to help Alison with walking her dog.”

“He can help with that, but I can take care of myself, Pepper. Plus, JARVIS is always around, and I won’t be completely alone if Happy needs to do anything else,” I said, waiting for the A.I. to speak but heard nothing. “JARVIS will answer…soon. Please, Pepper, I’ll be fine on my own.”

She seemed conflicted, she never liked the idea of me being on my own at all.

“ _Not to worry, Ms. Potts, Miss Stark shall be perfectly fine with my supervision_ ,” JARVIS said, finally announcing his presence.

“Thank you, JARVIS,” she said although that didn’t really seem to ease her.

“Go, Pepper. You don’t want Tony seeing his office and then getting how he normally gets when it’s not the way he wants it.”

She sighed and nodded. “Okay, be good while I’m gone, Alison.”

“I will,” I answered, grabbing the bags so I could take them to my room.

Pepper looked at me one more time before nodding to herself, walking over to the door when Happy opened it, and walked out with him following her. Once I heard JARVIS lock the door, I whistled for Charlie, and walked down the hall to my room with him following. When we reached my room, I placed the bags near the closet, and watched Charlie sniff around them.

“Come on, Charlie,” I called, giving him a little whistle.

I heard him give a little bark and heard a tiny beeping sound coming from my laptop.

“ _Miss Stark, I’m afraid I am unable to access who is contacting you. It appears that the video message is private_ ,” JARVIS said, his voice making my dog give curious looks up toward the ceiling.

“I have a clue as whom it might be, JARVIS.” I walked over to my desk, tapped a few keys on my laptop, accepted the message, and saw Director Fury’s stern face on my computer screen.

“I was wondering when you were going to answer,” he said, his tone pensive as always.

“It’s good to see you, too, Director,” I said, trying not to sound as sarcastic as I’d like.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury is one of the most highly skilled agents/spies ever. He is African American with an eye-patch over his left eye, bald, has a goatee, and has worked with my adopted grandfather—Howard Stark—since the very beginning when he was a founding member of the agency. It always seemed odd for me that even at the age that Fury was, he was still very much active—especially after that run-in with Loki.

“I can see that the sarcasm is very much minimal this time, Alison. Starting to make me wonder how you can be so tired,” he commented.

“Well, Director, I am very much tired since I haven’t been sleeping well,” I shot back. “Is there a reason why you’re calling me?”

“Yes, you’re needed on the Helicarrier—ASAP. I’ve got a couple things I need to speak with you about.”

“Can’t that just happen here? I’m home alone,” I said, glancing at Charlie. “Not to mention, I’m home alone with Charlie.”

Director Fury looked over my shoulder and saw my dog. For a while I thought that would allow him to get that warm and fuzzy feeling look that everyone gets when seeing puppies, but it looked like it didn’t do it so much.

“Real cute, Alison, but you’re needed up in the Helicarrier. Now.” He cut the connection and the screen turned back to the image that was used for my wallpaper.

Sighing, I shook my head and walked over to Charlie. “Sorry, boy. I guess I might have to leave you in your crate and you’ll have to wait for Happy to get here to walk you.”

He just looked at me; ears perked up and tail wagging. I picked him up, glad that he was still small enough for me to hold, and kissed his little head. I walked out of my room, down the hall, and back to the living room where his crate was. I knelt down, opened the door and put him inside.

“I really hope Happy will be here soon so he can be with you. It doesn’t seem right leaving you here,” I said, trying not to pout.

“ _Miss Stark, if I may, perhaps you should write a note so Mr. Hogan can have an understanding as to where you are_ ,” JARVIS suggested, always finding the right time to speak.

“Not a bad idea,” I said. “Thanks, JARIVS.” I rushed back to my room, grabbed my one of my oversized train cases, opened it up, and saw all my special gadgets.

It kind of felt great seeing all my weapons and tools that I used whenever I was on missions or had assignments to do for S.H.I.E.L.D. I hadn’t really seen much of them since I was on some sort of sabbatical after what had happened with Loki. Fighting an alien species and getting beat up all over was really something to hide from school after having a week off to recover. Of course, I was able to catch up fairly quickly since Director Fury gave me some time off, but I still had bruises and healing cuts all over my pale skin. Pepper was in total mother mode about that; she even scolded Tony for saying that it was just a few battle wounds. Shaking my head, I cleared my thoughts from everything else to focus on the task I had. Grabbing the things I needed: my ID card, a pair of sunglasses I modified, my jacket from the agency that holds a couple of hidden gadgets and weapons, and lastly one of my guns strapped in a thigh holster. Personally, I wasn’t a gun person, but it was required by the agency to have one for “just-in-case” measures.

Closing up the case, I got up and pulled off my coat. When it was off, I began untying my converse—I never really liked taking them with me on the Helicarrier and I always wore boots whenever I worked. Perhaps it was the idea of it helping me achieve more of a height that made me prefer them. Zipping up the navy blue jacket, I slipped on the belt with the holster, strapped it around my thigh and placed my gun—with the safety on—in. Making sure that I had everything (ID, gadgets, glasses, whatever I needed) I searched in my closet and pulled out my wedged boots. Sure, the idea of it may not seem like it’s comfortable, but these were the ones I’d always wear and they never bothered me. I knew I was ready to go, but I didn’t _feel_ ready to go. Maybe being off for months was the reason; I wasn’t fully comfortable with the idea of being there as much but I had to. There was no doubt that perhaps Fury would give me to some sort of assignment.

_Maybe being assigned one wouldn’t be_ so _bad,_ I mused, biting my lip as I walked out of my room. Slipping my hand into one of the pockets of my jacket, I pulled out a black elastic band and tied my hair up in a neat ponytail—or as neatly as I could thanks to my outgrown bangs. When I reached the living room, I find a pad and pen, and wrote the note for Happy. If anything, I’d most likely get a call from Tony about this.

“Sorry, Dad,” I muttered to myself as I finished off the note. “But when the boss calls, I gotta do as he says.”

I jogged over to the kitchen, stuck the note on the fridge with a magnet, ran over to Charlie to say bye, and went over to the door.

“I’m leaving, JARVIS,” I said, placing my hand on the handle.

“ _I must warn you that your father won’t be too pleased with you leaving on your own, Miss Stark_ ,” he replied, knowing the same thing I was thinking.

“I know, but I gotta go,” I sighed.

I walked out before he could say anything else and heard the door lock behind me. I lived on the top floor of the building, glad that I didn’t have to be cautious about going to the roof. I walked all the way to the stairs, opened the door and climbed a flight of stairs until I reached the door to enter the roof. Placing my hand on the handle, I checked to see if it was locked and sighed with relief when it opened. Walking out onto the roof and looking up, my eyes squinting against the mid-afternoon sky. It was a good thing that I brought my sunglasses with me; taking them out, I put them on and fiddled around along the side of the frames until I had it on the feature to help me search for the Helicarrier. The Helicarrier was able to blend with anything with its camouflage feature in order to shield itself from civilians. It would seem strange if someone were to see a flying aircraft over New York, attracting way too much attention.

I searched the sky a bit more until I found it. The Helicarrier was a couple of buildings away; I pulled out my earpiece, clipped it on and contacted one of the agents.

“This is Agent Stark, I need ride up to the Helicarrier.”

* * *

The ride up to the Helicarrier was faster than I expected and a small part of me had feeling that Fury really needed to see me. _Yep, I must be getting an assignment._ I walked down the corridor from the landing bay to the control room, but before I reached it, a voice caught my attention.

“Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

I turned to my left and saw Steve Rogers, Captain America, standing there with a duffle bag in his hand and what looked like a folder in his left.

“Steve.” I was surprised to see him here. I hadn’t seen him since after what happened months ago. “It’s great to see you again.”

“Yes. It has been while,” he said, walking over.

I still couldn’t believe that he was here; last time I saw him he was riding a motorcycle, in my opinion, out of New York. It wouldn’t have surprised me if he had stayed here, though. In his file he was a New York boy and proud of it. Steve was dressed in clothing that were from the ’40s; I wouldn’t have really pictured him in jeans or wearing anything else that was from this century at all. Just everything about him screamed 1940s: his hair cut, his clothes, the way he spoke—a total ’40s guy. But, if I was being honest with myself, I was glad to see a friend here, even if said friend is technically old enough to be my grandfather or great-grandfather.

“Yeah.” I glanced at his bag, curious. “What are you doing here? Is Fury needing you for something?” The idea of Fury possibly even assigning the both of to the same job was something I wouldn’t mind. Captain American knew how to kick some serious butt.

“No, I was on my way to the gym, but Director Fury told me that he still had a few of my things, and thought I should get them now,” he said, lifting the folder up for me to see.

“You sure it’s not a file he wants you to read for a mission?” I joked, smiling a bit when he chuckled.

“No, I looked it over and it’s my papers. He even helped me acquire a new license since mine…expired.”

Of course, the idea of having a license that expired seventy years ago is something no one should have. _Great, I’m sounding like Tony._ “Be glad my dad’s not here to joke about that.”

“Ah, yes. Tony does know how to get under a person’s skin, doesn’t he?” he mused, a grim smirk gracing his face.

I nodded, thinking back; it was something my dad was known for when trying to lighten the mood on things. He would mess around with people, but it wasn’t easy to get used to…at first. I still remember the time we all were here: Tony was messing around with Captain America about his age, and how he was frozen in ice. I myself found it weird that he was here after being frozen for seventy years, but I had to play mediator between the two of them. At least I managed to get a jab of my own, but to Tony about how Steve may have technically been older, he physically looked younger than him—which then led to Tony almost believing that I was developing a crush on Steve. Good thing I put a stop to that; however, he of all people should have known by now that I will probably not be interested in dating for a _long_ time.

I mentally sighed, _I over-think too much._

“Well, I’d better get going. I’m sure you’re probably in a hurry,” he said, breaking me out of my obsessive inner-monologue; watching him open his bag, and carefully placed the folder in there.

“‘Hurry’ wouldn’t really be the word I’d use for this.” I tried not to roll my eyes. “Director Fury needs me for something. I’m not sure what it is, though.”

“Maybe you’re the one that’s going to be assigned a mission?” he questioned, trying not to smirk, amusement very much evident in his blue eyes.

“I seriously hope not.” But then I’d be lying to myself; I kind of _do_ want one.

“Good luck, Alison.” He gave me one last smile and walked down to the landing bay.

“Thanks,” I murmured. I knew he was gone, but he could probably still hear me—this part of the Helicarrier was unusually quiet today.

I continued my way down the hall until I reached the control room; the doors slid open and I heard the tapping of fingers on keyboards and people talking—giving orders and answering to whatever was being said. Looking around, I saw Agent Maria Hill watching over everyone in the control room. She was mostly seen as Fury’s second in command; they were pretty much the bosses of everything and every agent addressed them that way.

“Alison?” She looked over my way, surprised to see me. Seems Agent Hill had no idea I was coming.

“Hello,” I greeted weakly, giving a small smile.

“I-I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Her dark brows furrowed as I walked over to her. “Did Director Fury ask you to be here?”

“He said I was needed here and I honestly have no clue as to why,” I shrugged, crossing my arms.

“I asked you to come here because I got a job for you.” His voice came from the other side of the room, and we both turned to see him walk over to us.

Director Fury was dressed in his usual black on black attire with his usual black leather trench coat. His expression wasn’t very stern this time, which is a total first. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too extreme as I had believed.

“What kind of job?” I asked, uncrossing my arms and stood up a bit straighter.

“Follow me.” He turned on his heel and began walking. “You’re in charge here, Hill.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, glancing at me, and looked over at everything else.

I followed Director Fury; very curious about this job he was going to assign me if it meant we were going to speak in private. We walked into a room that appeared to be a conference room of sorts; there was a large metal table with seven chairs around it. The room was designed just like everything else in the Helicarrier: technology everywhere, monitors wherever I looked…everything about it screamed S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Sit.” I did as he said. He walked over to a computer that was hooked up near the table. Looking back in my direction as he sat in one of the chairs. “Do you know anything about this?” He clicked a key on the keyboard, the lights turned off and a holographic picture of a red spider showed up in the middle of the table.

I looked at it and saw that it was the same spider design that I saw on my way to the school. Red, strong and angled eight legs—even for a hologram it looked just like it would if I were seeing it spray-painted on a brick wall.

“Probably a lot less than you do, sir,” I answered, trying not to sound like my father.

“Very funny, Stark,” he said, his tone getting stern. A tone I have always heard said to one person in particular.

_Oh yeah, I probably_ did _seem like Tony on that._ “Well, Director, I’ve never really paid attention until my chauffeur explained to me that it was the symbol of some new hero protecting New York,” I stated, sounding a lot better than I had before.

“Well, he was right.” He typed something else and more photos appeared, only this time of a man dressed in red and blue spandex.

I must admit, the suit was pretty good; there was some faint black webbing designs wherever there was red—along his chest, abdomen, his gloves, mask, and his boots. The blue was just a solid color but it showed off the lean muscles along his arms and legs. The mask definitely caught my attention, the eyes of it were glassy yellow and I knew that it was perfect to hide the actual eyes of whoever was behind the mask.

“Is that…”

“I had a feeling you might know something about this guy,” he muttered, getting up. “He calls himself Spider-Man—a defender of the innocent. However, he first started out by going after guys with some pretty serious rap sheets.”

“So he started out as a vigilante. Who hasn’t?” I shrugged, thinking back to when Tony first started out as Iron Man and everyone thought he was just some vigilante nuisance that will cause so much trouble for everyone.

“That may be the case, but after a while, he started going after this guy.” He slid over a tablet across the table to me. Picking it up, I turned it on and saw a picture of a man with thinning dark blond hair, horn rimmed glasses, large nose, and looked like he was in his forties.

As I looked at the picture, I couldn’t help but think he looked familiar. I squinted a bit in concentration, and looked up at Director Fury. “Wait, this guy…that’s-that’s Dr. Curtis Connors.”

“Yes.” He clicked another key and the tablet in my hand turned off, showing the picture in front of me. “Dr. Curtis Connors, a biochemist at Oscorp, who for years has tried to combine human and animal DNA in order to cure illnesses and diseases.”

“Cross-species genetics,” I uttered, thinking about when I skimmed through a book of his, and how he thought it would be the greatest thing to happen for all mankind. “But, Director, that’s not simple. I remember when one of my science teachers was talking about Connors’ theory and how insane it was to even think about combing human and animal DNA. He even went as far as calling him a mad scientist.”

“Mad scientist insane—yes. But the man did do it.” His face was grim as I looked up at him, shocked at that announcement. “Although I must warn that there were side effects to him creating a serum and used cross-species genetics.” Fury hit another key and a video of what appeared to be a mutated lizard standing near nine feet tall, and ran around New York—causing nothing but destruction in his wake.

“What the hell is that?” I breathed, really disturbed by this thing in front of me.

“That, Agent Stark, is Dr. Connors,” he said, looking at the video and then at me again. “He tested the serum on himself—which he made by using lizard DNA. He used it because he was fully aware that lizards have regenerative properties and they are able to regrow lost limbs.”

“And he was making this serum to regrow his arm?” I questioned, trying not to seem confused about this. It seemed strange that he would actually try this on himself, most scientists normally used test subjects rather than themselves. _Perhaps he is mad after all._

“Dr. Connors was actually trying to create some type of cure for the terminally ill, Norman Osborn—Oscorp’s main guy.”`

That confused me even more. “Okay, so Connors made this serum that was intended for his boss, but made it for his own personal gain; however, it backfired and now you want me to go after him?”

“No, he was stopped by Spider-Man,” he sighed. “Spider-Man stopped him on time because Connors wanted to make everyone in New York just like him when he took the serum—an overgrown lizard. And thanks to Spider-Man, Dr. Connors is locked away.”

“And what am I going to do? Congratulate him? Throw him a parade in his honor?” I questioned, not entirely sure as to why I was needed. At first I thought I was going to go after Lizard Connors, but now that he said that Spider-Man stopped him, what’s the whole point of me being here?

“Actually, I was thinking maybe he’d join us—he would be an interesting addition to both the agency and the team,” he said, turning off the holograms in front of me, and the lights in the room turned back on.

“Hang on. The team? You want Spider-Man to be a part of the Avengers?” I asked, very surprised about this. I would have thought I’d joined since I pretty much fought with the others against Loki and the Chitauri army. 

“Of course, his abilities will make the team a lot stronger than it already is.” He paused, thinking over something. “And perhaps, make you officially part of the team.”

“Make me official?” I would love that, but I still couldn’t stop thinking about something. “But you never told me why I’m here, Director.”

“Your job, Alison, is that you are going to convince Spider-Man to join S.H.I.E.L.D.”

My eyes widened. “What?!”

“I said: you’re going to convince Spider-Man to join S.H.I.E.L.D.,” he repeated.

“B-b-but how am _I_ going to convince him to join the agency?” I asked, getting up. “What if he’s so stubborn to even hear me out? I’m not cut out for this stuff, Director.”

“You were trained to be, not only a good agent with fighting and weapon wielding expertise, but also be a rather well consultant. To speak so eloquently that you can make a car salesman sell _you_ his own car,” he said. I was about to say something else until he cut me off. “It won’t be so hard. I’ve seen you talk your way out of so many things, I’ve seen you influence so many people into believing your words.”

“Most of that was during my training. I’ve recently started going into the field with this stuff with Agent Coulson until what happened in the spring.” I stopped, sighing. It was still hard to get over that my mentor was gone—well, one of them. I learned so much from Phil Coulson about what I needed to do when I was either consulting or interrogating.

“Look, I know Coulson’s death has affected everyone, but he had even said you are ready when it comes to being on the field by yourself.” I crossed my arms, listening. “Alison, if Phil Coulson was here, he would have said you’re ready. We all know you are.”

“Consulting was his job; not mine,” I countered, trying with great difficulty to not act like a child.

“Then listen to me when I say this: Phil Coulson himself said that you are great at this as he was.” His unpatched eye stared at me. “Do it for him.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I’ll do it for Phil.” I uncrossed my arms. “What should I do?”

“First, you’ll need to find Spider-Man,” he said, walking over to a nearby table and picked up a folder. “That’ll probably be quite simple since he’s around your area.”

He walked back, handing me the folder. Taking it, I opened it up and saw very little information on this guy. “There isn’t much for me to go with here.”

“I’m sure you’ll know a lot more about him as soon as you begin associating with him. Make sure you get him to see that S.H.I.E.L.D. is the right choice.”

I thought about it, getting bit of a knot in my stomach about just the thought of telling him that he must join S.H.I.E.L.D. Biting the inside of my cheek, I asked, “I have to do this as myself, right?”

“Yes, if you want him to trust you, you’ll have to just be yourself. Meaning do not use the camouflage technology to let him think you’re someone else,” he stated, making me dread the idea of just being assigned this job.

“Well, I hope he’s not smart enough to know that it’s me.” No matter how much I hated the idea of this, it’s my first solo job, and I had to do it.

* * *

When I got back home, I was bombarded with questions from Pepper about where I was. Tony managed to calm her down by letting her know that I was back home safe and sound, but what I had to tell him next wasn’t so easy. At least from my perspective. He knew that I was in the Helicarrier—not the thing itself, but knew that I was busy doing stuff for S.H.I.E.L.D. I mean, where else would I go? I didn’t know this city so well and I could have easily gotten lost, as Pepper put it. Sure not being familiar with this place was correct, but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t find my way around here. It annoyed me a bit that she’d think that, it seemed like something Tony would think of and he’s gotten pretty protective of me.

Sighing, I looked over the little information I had about Spider-Man. I was pleased that Tony didn’t ask so many questions about my assignment, he of all people knew that certain things should remain classified unless he was involved. I felt like I should inform him of this, but Fury might blow a fuse if I suggest that. As I read, holding a pencil in my hand, I was beginning to lose interest in reading and started to draw the spider on the suit. Spiders never really were creatures I enjoyed, I guess one would say I have arachnophobia, but it was never really extreme. Seeing them enclosed in cases or on television were fine but up close was something else.

A knock on my door drew me away from the ten spider drawings I had done. I saw that I was already creating a web. _Oh yeah, I’ve got spiders on the brain._ “Yeah?”

“Alison, it’s time for bed. You’ve got school tomorrow and you’ve locked yourself up in your room ever since you got back,” Pepper said from the other side of the door.

“What?” I whispered. I looked at the clock on my phone and saw that it was already ten. _Wow, I really do get caught up in my mulling._

I was about to massage my temples until I felt the frame of my glasses against my fingertips. I didn’t even remember when I took off my contact lenses and put them on. _I must have been out of it._ I tried remembering everything else after I got back and Pepper’s questions, there was no doubt I was on autopilot through out everything else. Did I even have dinner? The taste of mint on my breath suggested that I must have since I already brushed my teeth. I touched my hair and felt that it was somewhat damp, a sign that I had showered—something I was unaware that I had done.

“God, I hate getting an assignment,” I groaned. There was another knock on my door. “Yeah, Pepper, I’m going to bed soon. Don’t worry.”

“It’s not Pepper.” A male voice said this time.

_Crap._ “Come in, Dad.”

The door opened and I saw my father enter my room, holding a mug in his hand. I glanced over at Charlie and saw that he was sitting up in his little bed, watching Tony enter.

He looked at my puppy, raising an eyebrow. “I’m only here to see my kid, not you.”

“Stop being mean to my dog,” I chided, a small smile on my lips. I knew some day Tony will warm up to the idea of us having a dog, and the messing around with him is all he can handle. In my opinion, it was Tony’s way of showing that he cared about Charlie.

He placed the mug that was in his hand on my desk. “I brought you some tea. I know you have a big day tomorrow and figured this could help calm your nerves—if you are nervous.”

I looked at the burgundy mug; seeing that he placed a chamomile tea bag, one of my favorite teas. It looked fine, I knew Tony wouldn’t do anything bad to it, but he wasn’t very good with his tea and honey ratio that there were times where there was more honey than the taste of the tea. Picking it up, I took a small sip and the taste of chamomile with a hint of honey hit my tongue.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said, taking another sip.

“I finally got it right,” he muttered, sitting on my bed and looked at me. I turned in my chair and watched him. “Took me eight months to get it right.”

“I guess tea is a science that takes time,” I teased, sipping my tea. I was starting to feel relaxed, I guess I must have been pretty tense about the idea of the job Fury gave me and school that I hadn’t even realized it.

He nodded, appearing tired. I figured exhaustion was finally hitting him; for a month he was busy getting us ready to be here that he hadn’t slept well. Looking more closely at my father, I was able to see the bags under his eyes; he hadn’t really shaved and it seemed like the goatee he’s always sported was starting to turn into a beard. His dark brown hair was a bit disheveled, possibly from running his hands through it all day, but despite that his brown eyes still looked like they held the light of the jokester that he was.

“So, you seem ready for tomorrow.”

“I’m not.”

“And why is that? Do you think it’s because you won’t find an outfit in any of the new bags you bought today?” He smirked, eying the empty bags near my closet.

“It’s not that. I don’t feel like going,” I confessed. “I’m scared that I won’t fit in again. I mean I didn’t really have any real friends back at my old school, what could be so different here?”

“It’s a science based school and you don’t have to worry about making new friends,” he stated.

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Pepper told me that you already met someone at the school today and that you were actually smiling more,” he said, amusement lighting up in his eyes.

“She told you?” Why?! Pepper shouldn’t have told him, Tony was already overprotective as it was and knowing that I talked to a boy today would make it worse.

“Relax. I’m not going to go after this kid because he was speaking with you.” He raised his hands, sitting up straight. “As long as he’s just friends with you it’s fine. The last thing I wanted to think about is my daughter already dating someone at her new school and—”

“Okay, Dad, I think it’s time for me to go to bed, and for you to get out of my room,” I cut him off, gulping down my tea, and getting up.

“What? I’m just saying that if you date anyone, and I find out who he is, I’m going to have a full background check to see if I approve of them.” From the tone of his voice, I was able to tell that this was the Tony Stark I knew too well.

“No.” I walked over to him, pulled him up from my bed, and motioned for him out of my room. “Come on, I have a big day tomorrow and I need to sleep.”

“Oh, sure, _now_ you want to sleep. Before you were all quiet because of work and hating school—a school that you have yet to attend—where there is a boy that you’ve already befriended.”

“Dad, out. Please?”

“Fine, I’m going to bed.” He walked over to the door and glanced at my desk. “And make sure you pick up your room.”

“Sure, _now_ you’re being a dad,” I muttered, sarcasm lacing my every word.

“Not amusing. ’Night, kiddo.” He left, closing the door behind him.

I groaned, flopping onto my bed. Taking off my glasses, I rubbed my face; I was already starting to feel tired and thanks to the tea, I was able to feel even more tired. Sliding back on my glasses, I got up, walked over to the light switch, turned off the lights and carefully made my way back to my bed. I turned on the lamp on the nightstand next to me, took off my glasses and set the alarm on my phone. I tried not to think about my dad knowing that I met a boy today—it was the last thing I wanted to think about. But oddly enough, I started thinking about Peter instead. I hoped I’d see him tomorrow, knowing at least one person at a new school always helped more than not knowing anyone at all. Even though I didn’t know so much about Peter, it would be good just to see a familiar face.

Placing my phone and glasses on my nightstand, and turning off the lamp, I slid under the covers and closed my eyes—waiting for sleep to overtake me into what I hope would be a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The sound of my alarm woke me up with a start, I was really not used to that sound anymore. I was about to hit the snooze button until the smell of poop reached my nose. Turning on the lamp next to me, I put on my glasses again, and saw on the training pad a little ways away from my dog’s sleeping area holding the source of the smell.

“Oh, Charlie, you went on the pad. Good, but not good to wake up to,” I groaned sleepily, turning off my alarm, and sitting up in bed.

I stretched a bit, groaning when I felt a few bones crack. I looked at Charlie and smiled when he ran over to me.

“Hey there boy.” I scratched his head, smiling when I saw his little tail wag.

Slipping my feet into a pair of Ugg boots, I walked over to the training pad, wrapped it up, and went to my personal bathroom where I tossed it into the trash bin. I walked over to the sink and started washing my hands; as I finished, I looked in the mirror and saw the tangled mess of my hair. Groaning, I grabbed my brush and smoothed it down—the last thing I needed was for my hair to look like it hadn’t been brushed for weeks. Once my hair was nice and straight again, I opened my medicine cabinet, grabbed the case that held my contact lenses, and placed them on after I took off my glasses. It was sometimes annoying to wear them, but it does help since I didn’t really like wearing my glasses out in public. I continued with my morning routine: washing my face, brushing my teeth…just the things I needed to do. When I walked back to my room, I saw Charlie curled up in his bed again. It was a good thing that Pepper was going to take care of him for me today while I was at school until I got back, I’d hate for him to be in his crate all day while I was gone.

I looked in the mirror on my dresser and thought about what I was going to wear. Getting an idea, I went into my closet and pulled out a pair of black leggings, a fitted light gray long sleeved shirt, and a pair of black-heeled boots. I got dressed, did my makeup and actually waved out my hair for today—something I don’t normally like to do for school. Once I was ready, I grabbed my messenger bag—full of new school supplies—my iPhone, a forest green coat, and walked out with Charlie to the living room. As I entered the living room, the scent of coffee and waffles hit me, making my stomach growl.

“Man, that smells good,” I commented as I placed Charlie in a playpen where all his toys were. I grabbed his bowls and walked to the kitchen.

“Thank you,” Pepper said, near the waffle maker. “I made you your favorite: blueberry waffles.”

“Thanks, Pepper,” I smiled, replacing Charlie’s food and water. I walked back and placed them on the floor, watching him eat his food.

I walked back to the dining room and saw Tony there. “Morning, Dad.”

“Good morning,” he said, not looking up from his phone and took a sip of his coffee.

“Okay…” I mouthed, taking a seat next to him as I poured myself a glass of orange juice, and placed my messenger bag on the floor.

We normally never had breakfast together, I suppose how this is my first day at a new school Pepper wanted us to have something normal for once. However, I was wondering how long it would last. Real soon Pepper and Tony would get busy with work (Pepper most since she’s now CEO) and then I would be by myself again in the mornings.

“Oh, honey, I never got a chance to say that your outfit for today is really nice,” Pepper said, walking in and placed a huge stack of waffles on the table.

“Thanks,” I said, lifting my fork to pick up a waffle.

“What? What is she wearing?” Tony looked up from his phone after that, looking in my direction and raised a brow. “What _are_ you wearing?”

“Clothes.” I made sure there was enough sarcasm in that one word.

“It looks like you’re either going to hop on some random loser’s motorcycle or pose for a new line of clothing for H&M,” he commented.

“I’ll take the H&M part as a complement, but will glare at you for the previous one,” I said, giving a tight smirk as I placed two waffles on my plate, and took a sip of my orange juice. Once the citrusy liquid hit my tongue, I grimaced, hating that I had just brushed my teeth and the taste wasn’t pleasant.

He looked down under the table, quite possibly to check out my boots, and then sat up in his chair again, he asking, “Are you sure you can walk around in those heels today?”

“They’re not stilettoes, Dad,” I sighed. “The heel is only three inches and it’s pretty thick, too. It’s the size I would wear to work.”

“Still think you should be in something else,” he muttered, plating himself some food.

“I think she looks nice today, Tony,” Pepper said, coming to my defense. “Besides, it’s not like she’s dressing up in very minimal clothing like most girls her age.”

“Thank you, Pepper,” I smiled, sticking my tongue out to my dad as I poured some syrup over my waffles, and took a bite, the taste of the sweet syrup and blueberries hitting my tongue. “These are really good.”

“Specially made for you, honey.” Pepper sat across from me, on Tony’s right side.

We all ate in silence after that. Even if Tony attempted to deny Pepper’s comment, she still had a point. I really wasn’t the type of girl to dress too provocatively, sure there were times where I’d go from wearing heels and having my hair and makeup done to no makeup, jeans and a sweatshirt. I just did however I felt that day. After a while, Pepper and Tony asked what my thoughts were about attending Midtown Science and I answered them by saying that I was nervous as hell and would rather hide under my covers all day.

“Well, it’s too late for that. It’s time for you to go,” Tony said, wiping his mouth, and downed the last of his coffee.

“What? Already?” I took out my cell and saw that I had forty minutes left until school started.

“Okay, we’ll both go with you to the school so that way Happy can drop us off at the Tower after,” Pepper announced, getting up from her seat and picked up the dishes.

“You guys want to drop me off?” I asked, usually it was just Pepper that would drop me off, but now it’s the both of them. _This day is already starting off with surprises._

“Of course, we want to see you off.”

“Pepper, it’s her first day of school, not her first day out at sea,” Tony quipped, causing Pepper to roll her eyes at him.

“She knows what I meant.” She grabbed her purse and this was the first time I noticed that they both were already dressed for work. Tony’s face was free of stubble and he was actually dressed in a suit while Pepper had a skirt, blouse, and heels on.

I got up as well, picked up my bag, placed my phone in the pocket of my coat and was ready for what seemed to be a dreadful first day of school. We left the penthouse, went down the elevator and reached the lobby where we saw Happy having a serious discussion with the doorman.

“Happy, come on, we gotta go. Alison’s going to be late and it’ll be all Pepper’s fault,” Tony said, nodding to the doorman as he tipped his hat.

“How is it my fault? I didn’t do anything other than make breakfast for your daughter,” she countered, giving the doorman a friendly smile while I waved on my way out.

“Can we just get going? I need to pick up my schedule if I’d like to know where my classes are,” I said and crossed my arms, really not looking forward to going back to the main office again.

“Better do as she says, Happy, or else she won’t have enough time to see her new boyfriend,” Tony taunted, causing Pepper to elbow his side.

“Oh, my God, Dad!” I groaned, uncrossing my arms, slid into the car and hugged my bag to me as soon as I was situated.

“What? I’m just saying—”

“It’s not something she wants to hear right now, Tony,” Pepper scolded, sliding in after me.

_Yep, I’m definitely part of a normal family._

* * *

I was so glad as soon as I was out of the car and in school. It wouldn’t have taken so long if Pepper hadn’t acted so much like a mom and stopped hugging me. Don’t get me wrong, I love that she treats me like her own daughter, but I didn’t need her to hug me for nearly fifteen minutes. Thank goodness Tony and Happy were able to get her to let go and were able to wish me luck today as well. As I walked down the hall, I started feeling nervous; there were students _everywhere_ and it felt like every pair of eyes were on me. Good thing I never wore lip-gloss or lipstick, it would have sucked so much after biting my lip, and the color was on my teeth. I kept walking until I reached the main office and spoke to the older brunette receptionist.

“Um, hi,” I greeted nervously. “I’m new here and I need to pick up the schedule for my classes.”

“Okay, and what is your name, honey?” she asked, brown eyes looking at her computer.

“Alison Stark.” _Wait for it…_

“Oh! You’re Tony Stark’s daughter!” She gasped, excitement lighting her eyes. I was able to detect a Southern twang in her voice.

_There it is, that’s what I was dreading to hear._ “Yep, that’s me.” I gave her a fake smile, the one I always wore whenever people began to talk about Tony or how amazing it must be for me being a Stark.

“Midtown Science is _so_ glad to have you attend our little school instead of all the others here in New York,” she gushed, completely kissing my ass about this. “You know, you look a lot younger in person than you do on TV and the papers.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” I muttered, trying not to tap my foot in irritation. Couldn’t she just find my schedule already? I wanted to find my locker that they’d assigned me so I could practice the combination.

“Ah, here you are!” She nearly shouted, she hit a button—hopefully it was the print button.

“Do I get my locker here? I’m just curious because I’m not sure where to go for that,” I said, hearing phones ring around in the office.

“Yes, let me go get the paper for you.” She walked away and over to a filing cabinet. She pulled out a long paper and walked back to me, handing it over. “Here, sign your name where you’re meant to sign and that’ll let us know that you are assigned to this locker.”

I nodded, grabbing the pen on the counter, signing my name on the paper and handing it back to the receptionist. She tore off the longer portion of the paper; giving me the small part that held the locker number and combination. Reaching over to the printer behind her, she handed me my schedule as well.

“Oh wait, I must get you a map of the school just to help you navigate and find your way around here. And I’ll also get you another paper, but this one will have the bell schedules on it so that way you can tell your daddy what times to come on over and pick you up.” She ran back to the other side and grabbed a couple of papers, and what looked like to be another.

I wasn’t sure why she’d give me another one, but I couldn’t ponder on it any longer when she got back and handed everything to me. “Thanks for the map and bell schedule.”

“You’re welcome, and you are all set. Have a nice day, dear!” She gave me a cheery smile.

Suppressing an eye roll, I gave her a small smile, and walked out. Looking down at the small square paper that held my locker number, I started searching for it. I was hoping that most of my classes were close enough together—would help me a lot with being on time. I guess you could say I was one of those students; I really did care about my attendance and my records too much to screw up in school. I wasn’t sure why I was like that. Perhaps it had something to do with my last name; before Tony was kidnapped, he was just a serious party animal and goofed around too much. I knew I wasn’t biologically his daughter, but some people might have thought that I could still be like him since I grew up around the environment. However, they didn’t know that Tony didn’t actually want me seeing him like that—at least _that_ was responsible of him. Still, I suppose it’s just something people would “predict” to happen for me.

I scoffed, _Yeah right._

As I continued walking, I began hearing the students around me whisper and I have no doubts that they knew about me coming here. I glanced up a bit, looking through my lashes, I was able to make out some clusters of kids: jocks, drama/art kids, different groups of popular kids…this was definitely just a normal high school, but it seemed like no matter where I looked, I couldn’t find messy brown hair anywhere. I was really hoping I’d find Peter early this morning, just the thought of possibly not seeing him brought down my mood some. I continued walking until I bumped into someone, dropping my papers in the process.

I sighed, “Crap, I’m sorry, I should have paid attention.” I knelt down and was starting to pick up my papers until the person I bumped into knelt down, too—noticing by the shoes that it was a boy.

“No, I’m sorry, I was the idiot to just stand around and…” His voice trailed off and I saw his hands pause slightly from my papers. “Alison?”

I looked up and saw him. “Peter! Oh, my God, I really didn’t see you there. I’m sorry. I was too preoccupied trying to find my locker and—”

“No, no, it’s okay. I was busy looking at the pictures I just recently put on the board and didn’t notice that someone could have been walking by here,” he smiled a crooked smile and grabbed the last of my papers. “Here, let me help you up.” He held his hand out for me.

I smiled, taking his hand. “Thanks.”

He helped me up and let go of my hand. “Who knew we’d bump into each other again?”

“Yeah, but knowing me and my dumb luck, I was bound to bump into people today,” I said weakly, still hating that it happened.

Peter smiled and handed me the papers, glancing at them slightly. He had a confused look on his face. “Um, not to be nosy or anything, but why do you have a résumé with these papers?”

I blanched. “What?” I took the papers and saw the first one. “What the hell?! The receptionist in the office must have done that! If she thinks I can help her get a job at my dad’s new building, she is mistaken.” I grabbed the paper, crumbing it up into my bag to shred later after school.

“Does that happen a lot?” Peter asked, brows knitting together in confusing.

“Yes, unfortunately, and a lot more than I care to count,” I sighed. “I swear, I’ll never see the end of this until I’m done with school completely.”

He looked at me, his brown eyes lighting up for a bit. “Hey, why don’t I change the subject? Where’s your locker? Maybe I can help you find it?”

I looked up at him, smiling. “Yeah. Thanks, that’ll be very helpful of you, Peter.”

I handed him my locker number; he took the little card and chuckled, “Well, looks like we’re neighbors.”

“Really?” I beamed, enjoying the idea of my locker being next to his. It would be so great knowing that I could still have someone I knew with me.

“Yeah, come on. I’ll show you where it is.” He handed back the card and started walking, with me following in step next to him. “But I must warn you, you might not really like it so much.”

“What do you mean?” My brows furrowed in confusion and my head tilted to the side.

“You’ll see when we get there.” Was all he said.

_That’s odd_ , I mused. What could be so bad about our lockers? Were they next to the boys’ bathroom or something?

We walked in silence, a couple more students stared us as we walked to our lockers. I wasn’t sure how Peter could be so calm with everyone staring, I was having a hard time trying not to get closer to him or tell everyone off.

“Everyone’s staring,” I whispered, walking a bit closer to him so he could hear me.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he whispered his apology. “I guess not many people are used to seeing the outcast with a girl walking so close to him.”

“Outcast?” I repeated, confused. _He’s one of the outcasts of the school? I wouldn’t have guessed._

“Yeah, but I’m used to it. Although, I’m still not used to the idea of the school’s star basketball player being one of my friends.” We rounded a corner, continuing onto a different hallway. “I guess that started helping me being seen by a few more people.”

I thought about that, remembering back to my old school where I felt like an outcast myself, except everyone thought they were my friends when I knew better. They only wanted to be friends with me because my father had money and power, and I hated that many people believed that I could just trust anyone.

“Don’t worry, I sort of know the feeling,” I mumbled, glancing up at him. No matter how glad I was to have heels on my boots, I still had to look up at Peter—it seemed like it made little difference.

He looked at me, about to say something until he looked ahead and sighed, “Well, we’re here.”

I looked ahead as well; seeing a couple making out and pressed against two lockers. I arched a brow. _That was the reason? Couldn’t he just ask them to move?_

Peter took in my expression and sighed, “Watch.” He went over to the couple, trying to explain to them that he had to get to his locker, but they just ignored him.

I watched as the guy gently shoved his girlfriend against the locker, causing her to giggle. I grimaced, walked over to them; the sound of my heels hitting against the linoleum was what made them break away from each other. Peter’s eyes widened a bit, shocked that I was able to actually break them apart.

I offered them a friendly smile and said, “Hi, sorry to bother you guys, but my friend and I would like to get to our lockers.”

“And why would we listen to you?” The blonde girl glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Look, I know you two are very much in lust with each other, but we need to get to our lockers, and would appreciate it if you went somewhere else.” I kept my smile in place, but used my eyes to glare daggers at her.

She shifted a bit, taking in my expression, and was about to say something else until the boy with the dirty blond hair stopped her. “Babe, wait, do you know who she is?” She gave him the “does it look like I know?” look. “That’s Tony Stark’s daughter,” he whispered a bit loudly, causing me to mentally roll my eyes.

The blonde girl looked at me again, eyes widening. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that this is where your locker was. We’ll go somewhere else.” She quickly picked up her backpack, the boy doing the same thing, and they walked away.

“Hmm, that was easier than I thought,” I mused, looking down at my card as I walked over to my locker, and tested the combination. I smiled when I opened it and looked at Peter, who was still shocked. I couldn’t help but chuckle. “What?”

“I have been trying to break those two apart and away from my locker for _months_.” He stressed on the word. “It only took you two minutes.”

“Being a Stark helped, that’s for sure,” I shrugged, watching him walk over to his locker, and opened it up.

“Well, I can’t think up a good way of thanking you for that,” he chuckled, taking out a book, and placing his skateboard inside his locker.

“How about you show me the way to my classes?” I smiled, glancing at my locker and grimaced a bit at the amount of dust that was in it. Pulling out a few sanitary wipes that I brought with me to school, I began wiping away at the dust.

Peter chuckled as he watched me clean, nodding. “Sure, I’ll be more than happy to be your tour guide for today. Let me see what classes you have.” I handed him my schedule and finished cleaning my locker. “Huh, looks like we got most of the same classes together.”

“Really?” My voice couldn’t contain my excitement. “That’s perfect!”

“Well, four out of six classes we have together.” He looked at me, watching for my reaction to it.

“Which ones?” I asked, looking at my schedule for the first time, seeing my classes.

“Your second period Spanish class and fourth period where you’re a service worker for a class,” he said, handing me back the paper. “But other than that we have first, third, fifth and sixth period together.”

Looking at the classes, I saw that they were Honors English, AP calculus, Honors U.S. government, and AP biology. I nodded, thinking that it wouldn’t seem so bad to have four classes with him.

“But, there’s some good news,” he added, catching my attention as I looked up at him.

“And what’s that?” I asked.

“The two classes you don’t have with me, are pretty close to mine,” he smiled.

“Yeah? That’s great, you can still show me around the school then.” A bell rang, drawing our attention and lots of students around us were getting ready for their first class.

“Come on, let’s go to first period.” He slipped an arm through one of the straps of his backpack, adjusting it on his shoulder and closed his locker.

I closed mine as well, fixed the strap to my messenger bag and followed him to first period English. The classroom wasn’t that far from the lockers, which was good; I was feeling nervous again and hated not having any textbooks. Hopefully when I meet my teachers they’d give them to me.

Peter stood to the side, motioning for me to enter the classroom first. I entered and stood by, watching Peter enter. He walked over to the desk in the front and attracted the attention of the teacher behind it. “Hi, Ms. Ritter.”

“Peter, you’re actually on time today,” she exclaimed, appearing to be shocked. “That’s excellent.”

I tried to hold back my smile, amused that I was starting to become friends with the “bad boy.”

“Yeah, uh, I brought the new student with me.” He inclined his head in my direction, causing her to look over my way.

“Oh, you’re the new student.” She rose from her seat, standing up straight. “Welcome to Honors English, I’m Ms. Ritter.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” I greeted, walking over. “I’m Alison Stark. Um, here’s my schedule. You know, so you can sign it.” I handed her the paper, feeling my heart hammer against my chest. Damn my nerves. 

“Of course.” Ms. Ritter took the paper, looking it over. “Ah, lots of Honors and AP classes, that’s very good.” She smiled at me and looked at Peter. “Mr. Parker, why don’t you take a seat and I’ll have everything settled here with Miss Stark.”

“Sure,” he nodded, giving me one last smile as he walked to the back of the class.

I watched him leave, kind of wishing he were up here with me. I was never really good when it came to talking to teachers, there was just something that was so intimidating about them—not as much as certain agents at S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ms. Ritter gave me a copy of her class’s syllabus, needing a signature from Tony to earn credit in her class. She assigned me a class book, but told me to make sure to get one for home at the bookroom. When she was finished, with the rest of the students entering the class, the final bell rang and she turned to the class.

“Okay, class. We have a new student with us.” Ms. Ritter earned everyone’s attention and I tensed. “This is Alison Stark, all the way from Los Angeles, and she’ll be finishing up her senior year here at Midtown Science.” She looked to me, smiling. “Now, Alison, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself.”

I paled, trying to come up with something. What _can_ I say that wouldn’t make me seem strange to everyone?

“Um, hi. I’m Alison,” I said nervously, biting my lip. “I’m seventeen-years-old, my dad is Tony Stark and I love…books.”

I kept my eyes trained on the back of the room and saw that Peter’s shoulders were shaking, laughing to himself about this. Everyone else in the room just stared at me, almost as if not sure what to say about me.

“Well, Alison, that’s…interesting,” Ms. Ritter cleared her throat. “Why don’t you take that empty seat right next to Mr. Parker and we’ll begin with today’s lesson.”

I nodded, walking down the rows of desks until I reached the empty one on Peter’s right. I sat down, placing my bag on the desk and glared at Peter. He looked at me; his brown eyes alight with amusement, and struggling not to smile.

“That was not funny!” I hissed, causing him to quietly laugh some more. “You try coming up with something up there, that was humiliating.” I crossed my legs.

“Sorry,” he cleared his throat, a smile ghosting his lips. “Hopefully the other teachers won’t do it.”

“God, I hope not,” I muttered, taking out a notebook and a pencil. “Because if you’re laughing again, Peter Parker, there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Sure thing, Alison,” he chuckled.

I was about to respond until Ms. Ritter’s voice caught my attention. “Now, class, let’s get started on this week’s assignment. So, who has read…"

* * *

Despite everything that happened in the morning, the rest of my classes went pretty well. My second period Spanish teacher, Mrs. Marquez, didn’t put me through what Ms. Ritter did in English; third period AP calculus with Mr. Cooper was…interesting—at least I was able to work with Peter without wanting to tear my hair out thanks to our obnoxious teacher. Fourth period was awesome, being the teacher’s assistant for the school’s library was so much fun, and all the time I was reading so many different books. I was even ecstatic finding out that the bookroom and library were in the same place, and was able to get all my books before I even met my other two teachers—which also helped because I managed to do the homework I was supposed to do tonight for the classes I’ve already attended. After fourth period I had lunch with Peter, a couple of other kids would come over to where we were sitting and would speak to me, but I couldn’t really pay much attention to them. And when a couple of jocks were attempting to flirt, they were immediately turned down; I really wasn’t interested in anything of that nature, and just wanted the school day to end already. In fifth period Honors U.S. government, the teacher showed us a movie (he didn’t really want to start anything, and I was okay with that). And now, as we were finishing up AP biology, I looked to Peter, watching him take notes. It was great knowing that there was someone who was just as much of a bookworm as I was when it came to school. He may not look like it to others, but I could see that Peter was really smart.

The final bell rang; every student rushed to put away their things and were leaving the class. I put away most of my things in my bag and picked up my textbook, waiting for Peter to get up as well. When he did, we walked out of the classroom, and made our way to our lockers. He looked like he was busy thinking about something, being a bit quiet compared to how much we talked in our previous classes. Once we reached our lockers, I opened mine; making sure to put away the things I didn’t need and grabbed what I needed for my biology homework tonight. I really wasn’t looking forward to doing the work since I had to go out and look for Spider-Man, but I made a promise to Tony and Pepper that I’d continue and finish my education.

“Alison?” Peter said my name a bit quietly.

I looked up from my bag, seeing him against the locker. “Yes?”

“I was wondering, do you want to hang out at my house today?” he asked, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Today?” I’m actually invited to a friend’s house? I wasn’t really expecting this, especially when there were times where I knew I couldn’t—like today for example. _But then again…_

“If you’re interested in coming. I’ll understand if you have anything better to do,” he said, messing around with his camera.

“Um, I’ll have to ask, but I’m sure they’ll be happy about me being at a friend’s house.” I just gotta make sure that Pepper doesn’t tell Tony that I was going to a boy’s house.

“Really?” His brown eyes looked hopeful.

“Yeah, I’d love to go to your house, Peter,” I smiled, closing my locker.

“That’s great, let’s go.” He slung his camera over his shoulder, grabbing his skateboard, and we both walked out to the school’s main entrance.

When we were out, I texted Pepper, letting her know that I was going to be home later. Hopefully that’d give Tony the impression that I was out doing what I had to do for S.H.I.E.L.D. and he wouldn’t be suspicious of Peter. I looked up ahead and saw Happy parked right in front of the school’s entrance.

Biting my lip, I looked up at Peter. “Do you mind us getting dropped off there? My dad’s chauffeur is here. Well, he’s sort of Pepper’s and mine because Tony hates being driven around.”

His brows furrowed, I inclined my head in Happy’s direction and he looked, eyes widening a bit. “Uh, yeah. If you feel comfortable that way.”

“It’s just that he’ll tell my dad and last thing I want is for him to call the NYPD,” I half lied, pleading with my eyes.

Peter nodded, giving in. “Sure, we’ll have your driver drop us off there.”

“Thank you, Peter!” I gave him a quick hug and led him over to Happy.

Happy got out of the car and did a double take when he saw me walking with Peter. When Happy reached the sidewalk, Peter and I stopped in front of him.

“Hi, Happy!” I smiled, enjoying the disbelieving look on his face.

“Alison,” he nodded, taking his eyes off Peter for a second.

“This is my friend Peter Parker. Do you think you can give us a ride to his place?” I asked, not losing my smile.

Happy looked at Peter and he shifted a bit nervously. “And what will happen there?”

“Uh, homework…maybe play videogames?” Peter was really nervous by Happy, and this was nothing compared to what would happen if Tony met him.

“Please, Happy? I rarely go out and would love to hang out with a friend today,” I pouted, convincing him as best I could.

Happy sighed, “Fine, I’ll drop you both off at his place.” He opened the door to the back passenger seats.

“Thanks, Happy,” I smiled, giving him a smug look as I slid in.

After Peter got in, Happy closed the door and walked over to the driver’s side. I sat back, waited patiently as we drove away from the school, and was looking forward to actually hanging out at a friend’s house. However, there was a tiny voice in the back of my head annoyingly saying the same thing over and over again. _Please don’t let Tony find out about this._


	3. Evening With the Parkers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter. Hope you all enjoy this and I'll have the next one up next week.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

The drive to Peter’s house was very interesting. No matter how many times Happy tried to intimidate Peter, I shot everything down and got nothing but annoyed glances from Happy in the rearview mirror. I knew I was getting that bodyguard attitude from him because of what I was doing, but he had to see that there was nothing wrong with me wanting to spend time with a friend. And the same should go for my dad as well. Peter slowly got comfortable around Happy once he began to speak in a more civilized tone with Peter, the mood changed to a much friendlier environment. It seemed like with Peter it helped break Happy away from the bodyguard/chauffer attitude he got half of the time. What I seemed to enjoy the most was viewing the different areas of the city. Since Peter lived a bit away from the city, it was nice to see some actual houses instead of apartments. Everything was so different from where I lived; Pepper and Tony chose a pretty high-end building, but Tony picked the school for me to attend, which was a bit further away from the building. But right now, I didn’t care about distance. I just loved looking out the window and seeing everything. 

Once we reached Peter’s house, I took in everything about it. The house had a brick exterior, with four steps that led up to a porch and the entrance to the house. On the left side was a small white fence with two white pillars, and on the right was a small brick barrier with one white pillar. The windows were big and wide with white trimming, and along the walkway were pots of flowers and plants. Everything about the house was cute and I found myself smiling at all of it. 

Peter raised a brow at me. “I’m guessing you like my house?” 

“It’s so cute!” My smile widened, looking at him. “I would love a house like this. It’s so different from mansions and Malibu beach houses—let me have this moment?” I gave him a pleading look. 

He chuckled and nodded. “All right, I’ll give you this one, rich kid,” he smirked. 

“Ha-ha, you’re hilarious,” I said sarcastically, shoving him playfully, and tried to hold back a smile. 

The clearing of a throat drew our attentions back to the car, where a nervous Happy stood. I glanced at Peter, giving him a small smile to let him know I needed to talk with Happy, and walked over to him. 

When I was close enough, Happy spoke in a quiet tone. “You do realize that your dad will destroy Times Square once he finds out that you’re at a boy’s house.” 

“Happy, everything will be fine,” I said with such certainty that it surprised myself. “Tony will not find out and everything in New York will be safe from him and his suit.” 

“I highly doubt that, Alison,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb, and closed his eyes. 

I bit the inside of my lip, thinking. “Happy, didn’t you of all people tell Tony that I should be a normal teenager for once, and try to live a normal life?” 

His eyes opened, looking at me as he dropped his hand with a sigh. “Yes, I did tell him that.” 

“Then can you please give me this?” I asked, nearly begging. “I never get the chance to hang out at a friend’s house because Tony would rather have me invite someone to our place. Can I please have something normal in my life?” 

Happy nodded, finally giving in. “All right. Have your normal for just this once, but when the boss finds out, what am I supposed to say?” 

I lowered my voice a bit more, being very careful that Peter doesn’t hear me. “He knows that I have an assignment for S.H.I.E.L.D. If I’m lucky, he’ll think I’m already working because I always tend to do my homework at school to give me a free-ish night.” 

“Fine.” He shifted, standing up straighter and spoke at a normal volume for Peter to hear. “Enjoy yourself here, Miss Stark.” 

I rolled my eyes, he knew I hated when he did that. “Fine, Mr. Hogan. And don’t worry—things will be fine here. Peter even said that his aunt is here to supervise everything.” 

“Okay.” He looked at Peter, giving him a small nod. “It was nice meeting you and I hope you have a good day. Oh, and make sure that this one,” he points to me, “doesn’t end up biting people because that’s what she does when she doesn’t get what she wants.” 

I gaped, glaring at the grinning man. 

Peter laughed nervously, nodding. “Sure, I’ll keep an eye on her.” 

Happy, with his grin still plastered on his face, walked back to the car, got in and drove away. 

I still glared at the car, in utter disbelief that he said that and looked back to Peter, I said, “What he said is _so_ not true.” 

“It seems like ribbing is something that goes on a lot in your household.” He remarked rather than questioned. 

“You have no idea,” I sighed. “Well, to forget that, let’s just head inside before Happy does a U-turn and I’ll probably toss something at him.” 

“Serious?” He raised his brows in shock, and when he saw my “I’m dead serious face,” he got his answer. 

Nodding, he turned on his heel, and began walking up the steps. I followed after him, looking at the little furniture on the porch—I really loved this house. It was the type of house I would have loved growing up in. I was pretty sure if my mother were still alive it would have happened. My heart clenched at the thought, I hardly ever thought about her and I couldn’t break down here in front of Peter. I slowly began thinking of happy thoughts; it was something Pepper helped me with whenever I was upset for my mom. _Okay, think about Charlie. Think about fighting with Dad about Charlie peeing on the Iron Man suit. Think about having fun with Peter._ That one surprised me. I froze for a bit, shocked that I even thought of that and how well that helped me. 

Peter, who had his hand on the knob and put a key away, looked at me. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” I answered, thinking up something to say. “I…I just thought that…m-maybe I left my phone in the car, but I…have it in my pocket right here.” I pointed to the coat I had in my arms. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, concern marring his features. 

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s kind of important now in case Pepper were to call me and she’ll worry about me not having it.” 

He still seemed uncertain, but nodded and opened the door. “Go ahead.” 

I entered and saw a set of stairs in front of me that lend up to the second floor. When I looked to my right, I saw the living room where a woman wearing a floral skirt, pink sweater and slippers was rearranging the throw pillows on the couch. This must have been Peter’s aunt that he’s told me about and she had no idea we were here. 

“Aunt May, I’m home,” Peter called, walking over to me after he finished closing the door. 

“Hello, Peter.” She straightened up and turned around. “How was…” She trailed off, catching sight of me standing next to him. 

I smiled nervously, giving her a small wave before looking up to Peter. 

He cleared his throat, looking at his aunt. “Aunt May, this is a new friend of mine from school, Alison. And, Alison, this is my Aunt May.” 

“Oh, hello, dear,” she said, coming up to me, offering her hand. 

“Hello, Mrs. Parker,” I said, still feeling quite nervous as I shook her hand. 

“I’m sorry if it was short notice, Aunt May,” Peter apologized when we finished. “Alison’s new at school and I thought it would be all right if she hung here for a bit.” 

“It’s okay, Peter, any friend you invite is fine by me.” She smiled at him warmly, reminding me so much of how Pepper smiled at me. 

“You have a very lovely home here, Mrs. Parker,” I said, feeling my nerves calm down as I looked around. 

“Thank you, dear,” she smiled. “Would you like something to drink?” 

“Um, a water. Please?” 

“Of course.” She turned her attention to Peter. “Peter?” 

“I’m fine.” He slipped his backpack off his shoulder. 

“Okay.” She looked back in my direction. “Make yourself comfortable and sit wherever you’d like, I’ll be back.” She walked passed us, heading to the left where I assumed was the kitchen. 

Peter motioned for me to enter the living room, and when I did, I looked around everywhere as I sat down on the couch. I felt a bit bad that I was sitting on it since Peter’s aunt was picking up not too long ago. Peter placed his both his backpack and skateboard on the floor next to the couch, and sat down next to me. 

“So is my house still cute?” he asked, a teasing tone in his voice. 

“Yes,” I smiled, looking around until a picture near me caught my attention. 

I got up and walked over to get a better look. It was a picture of a little boy with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes, smiling happily with two teeth missing. 

“Oh, that’s Peter when he was five,” Peter’s aunt said, causing me to turn around and look at her. 

She handed me a glass of water and I looked back to the picture. “That’s him when he was five? Oh, he looks so cute here!” 

“I know,” she gushed, looking at Peter fondly as he flushed red. “His hair used to fall into his eyes and then he’d throw a tantrum whenever I had to take him to get it cut.” 

I giggled, taking a sip of my water. “I love the smile with the missing teeth, and his cheeks look soft and squishy.” 

She smiled, nodding. “Whenever someone tried to pinch them, he would get so mad.” Laughing lightly from the memory of it. 

“Aww,” I laughed quietly, walking back to where I was on the couch next to Peter—still red with embarrassment. 

“You guys realize that I’m right here, right?” he asked, running his hand through his already tousled brown hair. 

“Sorry, sweetheart,” Mrs. Parker apologized to him. “Can you blame us for liking that picture?” 

“Yeah, so please relax, Peter.” I took another sip of my water, placing my coat in my lap. 

“If you’d like, Alison, I can hang that up on the coat rack,” she offered, walking over to us. 

“Um, sure. Just let me take out my phone.” I handed Peter my water, searched my pockets until I found my phone, and handed my coat to Mrs. Parker. “Thank you.” 

She nodded as she took it in her hands and looked to Peter. “I’m going to get dinner started, are you two going to be down here?” 

“I was actually thinking we’d go up to my room, if that’s all right with you?” Peter asked, looking nervously at his aunt. “I’ll make sure the door is kept open.” 

“Okay, but make sure that it is, Peter.” She raised her brows at him, making sure he understood her. “I’ll check on you two when I’m finished.” 

“Okay. What are we having?” He handed me my water, getting up to get his things. 

“Meatloaf,” she answered and looked my way. “Will you be staying with us, Alison?” 

“I would love to, Mrs. Parker,” I smiled. “Just let me call my dad’s girlfriend first.” 

She seemed surprised when I said that and nodded. “Okay. Um, you two go do what you’re going to do, and make sure you put that skateboard away, Peter.” 

“Yes, Aunt May,” he nodded, grabbing his things. 

After I got up with my own bag, Peter led us out of the living room, and we went up the stairs. When we reached the second floor, I said, “I like your aunt. She reminds me of Pepper.” 

“Thanks. I think my aunt might like you as well,” he said, smiling. “You two hit it off pretty well.” 

“I hope so,” I mumbled. “I’d hate to get on someone’s bad side.” 

“Nah, you’re fine,” he shook his head. He walked over to a door and was about to open it until he stopped, and looked my way as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Do you think you can wait out here for a minute? I kind of need to pick up a bit.” 

I arched a brow, but nodded. “Sure, go ahead.” 

“All right.” He opened the door just enough for him to slip through and looked back to me. “Just one minute.” 

I chuckled and nodded again. He closed the door and I was able to hear him move around quickly from the other side. I smiled; amused that he was actually cleaning his room because of me. While I waited, I looked around the hall, and looked at the things that were around—like the pictures that hung on the wall. It just fascinated me at how many there were of Peter when he was little. There was still very little I knew about him, but he had told me that he has lived with his aunt and recently deceased uncle ever since he was four. Peter said something happened to his parents that caused them to leave him with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, but then later died in a plane crash. I could sympathize with Peter on that; my actual father died when I was a baby and my mother was killed in a car accident when I was eight. It seemed like loss was a major factor between us except he was taken in by family and I was adopted by Tony Stark. 

“Okay, I’m finished and it’s safe to go in,” Peter announced, opening the door to show me his room. 

“You make it sound like you’re hiding something in here,” I joked, walking in. 

“Me? Hide something?” he repeated, his brow raised, his eyes shifting to the side a bit. “I would never hide anything.” 

I thought over how he said that, along with the lack of eye contact, made me think that there was something he didn’t want me to see. But what could he be hiding? It didn’t seem like such a big deal, but I of all people knew what it was like to have secrets, especially really big ones. No one outside my family knew that I was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and I made sure to keep it at that. 

Shrugging, I said, “Everyone has secrets. It just depends who you trust to tell them to.” 

His brows creased, thinking over what I said. He shrugged as well. “I suppose. I mean, you do know a thing or two about secrets because of your dad, right?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Thanks to him…I know a lot about when it comes to keeping secrets,” I agreed, slightly worried for a second. _For a moment I thought it was something else._  

I caught something shift in his eyes, hopefully he didn’t try to think any of what I had said. 

Peter cleared his throat, shifting a bit. “So, you can sit anywhere. My bed, the chair…wherever you feel comfortable.” 

I chuckled quietly, walking over to his bed and sat down—placing my bag, the glass of water on the floor, and my phone next to me. “I take it that you’re not used to having a girl in your room?” 

“Wh-what makes you say that?” he asked, laughing nervously. 

“Your nervous behavior, for one,” I smiled, laughing quietly. “It’s fine. It’s a little different for me to be alone with a boy in his room, too.” 

“Your dad doesn’t really let you out much, does he?” he questioned, sitting in the computer chair across from me. 

Shrugging, I answered. “He does…but there’s some limitations.” Tony could actually just let me be out as long as I wanted, but it seemed like it was mostly for the days I had to do missions or when I was with Pepper. Never just for the fun of it. 

“Limitations? Like what exactly?” 

“Well, if Pepper’s with me…” I trailed off, thinking about other times. “When I went to the mall or other stores by myself…after Happy dropped me off. And that’s it.” 

“Really?” It was obvious that he couldn’t believe that. I supposed everyone believed that Tony was the type of irresponsible parent that always let me out and didn’t care. 

_If they only knew_. “Yeah. Trust me, Tony Stark is a very protective father; even if he comes off as standoffish or couldn’t really care about anything—that’s not how he is. He’s been there for me since I was eight-years-old. I may sometimes hate that he’s like that, but I’m glad to have someone like him in my life.” 

Peter nodded, thinking over something and smiled sadly. “He’s always there for you, right?” 

It was my turn to nod. 

“In a way, he reminds me of my Uncle Ben.” His face was downcast and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at his shoes. 

“Hey, it’s all right,” I said softly, placing my hand on top of his free one. “I know how hard it is to talk or even think about someone that’s gone. Believe me, I can’t go a couple of minutes without crying after I think about my mom.” 

He held onto my hand and lifted his face up slightly, deep-chocolate brown eyes looking into my blue ones. 

“Is that why you were upset earlier? You were thinking about your mom?” he asked, his voice a little low but perfectly clear for me to hear. 

I nodded weakly and whispered, “Yeah.” 

Peter’s eyes still stared into mine and I knew we were just friends, but I couldn’t stop myself from getting lost in them. There was just something about them that I couldn’t really read; there was something about Peter Parker that I didn’t know and I wouldn’t mind figuring out. 

The sound of my cell phone’s ringtone drew me back and away from Peter’s eyes. Letting go of his hand, I laughed weakly and said, “Sorry. I need to take this.” 

“Sure, go ahead,” he cleared his throat and nodded, sitting up straighter in his sit. 

I picked up my phone and answered. “Hello?” 

_“Hi, Alison. How is everything going?”_ Pepper’s voice came from the other side, smile in her voice. 

“Great, everything is fine here,” I said, shrugging but grimaced as I thought it was dumb to do since she couldn’t see it. “How’s everything at work?” 

“ _Fine. I just wanted to let you know I had Happy bring Charlie over here to be with me, but real soon he’s going to take the little guy back home._ ” 

“Was Dad okay with that?” I asked, biting my lip and stood up from Peter’s bed. 

“ _You know your father, he hated the idea of it, but knows you’ll give him a piece of your mind about that,_ ” she chuckled. “ _So, I was wondering, what time are you going to be home so we can figure out what to have for dinner?_ ” 

“Actually Peter’s aunt asked if I wanted to stay for dinner and I said yes, but was wondering what you think about that?” I was still biting my lip after asking as I walked over to where Peter had a couple of skateboards on his wall. I didn’t want Tony to find out and come here to take me back. 

“ _Well, I don’t see anything wrong with that_ ,” she said. “ _And don’t worry about your father, I’ll keep him busy from even realizing you’re with Peter._ ” 

“For some reason, I don’t think that answer was something I wanted to hear,” I shuddered slightly. The thought of my dad and sort of mother being intimate was something I really didn’t want to think about. 

“ _Very funny, Miss Smarty_ ,” Pepper commented, sarcasm evident in her tone. “ _Well, have fun tonight, sweetie. Be safe, behave, and make sure you’re back after—as in before you go out tonight._ ” 

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered. 

“ _Okay, bye, sweetie. Take care and say hi to your friend for me,_ ” she said. 

I smiled; delighted that Pepper was great about my friendship with Peter so far. “All right, I will. Bye.” I heard her end cut off and hung up. I looked at Peter, smiling. “Pepper says hi.” 

“Yeah?” he smiled. When I nodded, he chuckled lightly. “Glad to know she likes me already. She seems different than your dad.” 

“From what I’ve told you, yes. However, there are times where she can be protective of me…just not as much as him.” I walked back to his bed and sat down. “She’s definitely another mom to me.” 

“So, I have a question.” He sat a bit closer to me, certainly getting my attention. 

“Okay. Shoot.” I watched him carefully; curious as to what he wanted to ask. 

“Why did you shudder a while ago?” he asked, brow raised with curiosity. 

“Oh, God, that,” I laughed nervously and shook my head. “Yeah, um, Pepper said that she’d keep Tony busy while I’m here and, sadly, my mind processed that in a suggestive tone.” 

Peter laughed, his face breaking out in a wide smile. “Wow, who knew that Alison Stark could be such a perv?” 

“Hey, hey, hey, it wasn’t my fault!” I felt my face flush with embarrassment. “Listen to me when I say I don’t think of anything like that at all. It just happened and-and…I’m not sure how to answer that.” 

He laughed again, causing me to grumble. 

“That’s not funny, Peter,” I groaned, kicking his foot weakly with my own. 

“Sorry, it’s just…amusing that you actually thought that,” he chuckled, struggling not to grin. 

“Well, I’m glad I amused you,” I muttered sarcastically. 

“Okay. Okay,” he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “See, I stopped.” 

I watched him carefully, seeing that he was finished. Nodding, I said, “Seems like we both got our embarrassing moments today.” 

“You got that right,” he chuckled, giving me that smile I was getting used to seeing. 

“So…” I trailed off, thinking back to when we were at the school and what he had told Happy. “You weren’t serious, were you?” 

“About what?” he asked, confused by my question. 

“About us doing our homework together?” I bit my lip. “Seemed like a good thing to tell Happy, but I kind of already did mine at school.” 

“Oh, that,” he waved it off. “I just said that because it was the first thing that popped into my head at the time. Plus, I really wouldn’t have known that you did do it while we were at school.” 

“Well, I was in the library and thought it seemed like a good idea to do,” I shrugged. “Homework’s just easy for me to finish.” 

Peter nodded, understanding my point. “Yeah. I know what you mean.” 

We stayed silent for a bit until Peter began asking me questions about my family and me. He seemed curious about my life, which would normally annoy me, but it was different with him. I knew I was able to trust him and that made everything easy between us. It seemed like no matter what I would tell him, even if I ever decide to tell him about my life as an agent, I knew he could keep it a secret. In a way, I was glad to have met him and knew that he’d always be a great friend for me. I was nervous if Tony ever met him or knew of this, but with Pepper by my side, I was certain that she’d keep him from hurting Peter. 

After what seemed like hours, we kept talking until I began telling him about my puppy and told him all the funny moments I have had with him and Tony. 

“He picks on your dog?” he chuckled, surprised by this. 

“Yes! It’s sometimes sad, but I can’t help myself from laughing whenever it happens,” I laughed. “Charlie just looks at him with these big adorable eyes and Tony will call him things like ‘mutt’ or ‘runt,’ and I have to defend the little guy.” 

“Man, that’s awful, but I can see how you can laugh at that.” 

“You’re telling me. Although, I know at some point, my dad will grow to love Charlie—even though I know for sure he won’t admit it.” 

“Peter?” The sound of Mrs. Parker’s voice drew our attention to the door and we saw her standing by the frame. “Dinner’s ready.” 

“Okay. We’ll be down in a minute, Aunt May,” he replied. 

“Okay,” she smiled and left. 

Peter looked back to me, smiling. “Ready to head down?” 

I nodded, grabbing my phone and stood up. Peter stood up as well and we both went downstairs.


	4. Spider Hunting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next. I hope you like this one as much as the previous one and hopefully I'll have the next one up by this weekend or next week.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

“Thank you again for having me over, Mrs. Parker,” I said, readjusting the strap of my messenger bag, and finished buttoning up my coat. 

“You’re welcome, Alison. It was great having you over tonight,” she said, pulling me into a hug. 

I hugged her back, catching sight of Peter over her shoulder and saw him give me that adorable crooked smile. When she pulled away, I smiled apologetically, “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer, though. My dad needs me home since it’s a school night.” 

“Don’t worry. It’s perfectly understandable,” Mrs. Parker assured, smiling. “Maybe next time you and your family would like to have dinner here. Once everything is settled for them, of course.” 

“They would love to do that,” I smiled, pondering over the idea of my dad and Pepper meeting Peter and his aunt. 

“I’ll go walk her out to the car, Aunt May,” Peter said, glancing out through the glass of the door and saw the black car parked in front. 

“Okay, sweetheart,” she nodded, turning her attention to Peter and back to me. “Now, I hope you and your driver have a safe drive back, and it was very nice meeting you, Alison.” 

“Thank you, Mrs. Parker. Have a good evening,” I waved and smiled, walking over to Peter. 

He held the door open for me and I walked out with him following after. When we were outside, I felt the late autumn air hit my cheeks and was glad I had my coat on. I didn’t see Happy get out of the car, which meant he was probably preoccupied by something. We walked until we were a couple of feet away from the car and I stood next to Peter, watching him shift around where he was standing. 

“So…” I trailed off, not sure what to say. 

“So…” he repeated, chuckling quietly. “I guess it’s time for us to say bye.” 

“Yeah,” I nodded, not really looking forward to leaving. 

_But I have to go look for Spider-Man_ , I reminded myself. Fury gave me a job and I had to do it. 

I cleared my throat and hugged Peter. “Bye, Peter. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” 

“Yeah, see you tomorrow, Alison.” He hugged me back, his arms wrapped around me carefully but securely—almost as if I was really fragile. 

That struck me as pretty odd, I was never seen as the delicate type, but maybe to Peter I was. When we pulled away, I smiled and walked over to the car; I didn’t notice when Happy had gotten out of the car, but I saw him standing there with the back passenger door open for me. I glanced back at Peter one last time, smiling over my shoulder and slid in. Happy closed the door, and I was able to see him walk around to the driver’s side. I was still looking at Peter as he stared at the car with a thoughtful expression on his face. My brows furrowed a bit, curious as to what could be going through his head. 

The sound of the car’s engine drew me back and I saw that we were pulling away from Peter’s house—his form becoming smaller as we continued down the street. 

“So, how was it?” Happy asked, trying to start some friendly conversation. 

“It was great, actually,” I answered. “We just hung out and his aunt made dinner.” 

“Did you guys do what the kid said you’d do?” He glanced at me through the rearview mirror before he looked back at the road. 

“No, we just hung out and talked in his room, and then after that we had dinner with his aunt.” 

“You were in his room?!” Happy turned around in his seat to look at me but swerved; nearly losing control of the car and was honked at by other drivers. He regained control of the car and swore under his breath. 

“God, Happy, watch the road!” I exclaimed, hating whenever he did that. “It’s worse here than it was back in LA.” 

“I’m sorry about that, but when the hell did you decide to be alone with a boy in his room?” he asked, still shocked by that—no matter how unnecessary it was. 

“His aunt was busy making dinner and she was fine with it as long as he had the door open—which he made sure to do,” I explained. “It was no big deal, Happy. Peter even said that he wasn’t fully used to having a girl in his room.” 

“Then why were you there in the first place?” he questioned, making sure to keep a close watch on the road this time instead of me. 

“Because we’re teenagers and that’s what teenagers sometimes do. Relax,” I sighed, rubbing my temples. “Geez, I get more crap from Tony about this than you. Why make such a big deal about it?” 

“Your father, who is my _boss_ ,” he made sure to put more emphasis on the word, “will find out about this, and he’ll have me fired for even taking you to be with this kid!” 

“That won’t happen, Happy. Tony likes you too much and isn’t willing to get rid of you.” I took my phone out, checking to see if I had any messages from either Pepper or Tony. “And Pepper said that she’d keep him distracted—making sure that he wouldn’t find out.”

“If he even hears one little word about you being in a room with a boy, he’ll go after both me and the kid.”

I tilted my head to the side, confused. “Wait, why would he go after you? I mean, I get why he’d go after Peter, but why you?”

“I was the one who dropped you off at his house, Alison!” he exclaimed. “He’ll learn about where the kid lives and possibly torture me in the process.” 

I sighed and shook my head. “Okay, Happy, stop being over dramatic, and listen to your relaxing CD so you can get us safely home.” I picked up a CD folder from under the seat in front of me, opened it up and pulled out the one marked _RELAX, HAPPY_ in big red letters. 

I handed him the disc, which he slid into the CD player and the sound of reggae music filled the car. 

“I still don’t get why you chose to put Bob Marley in this CD—not that there’s anything wrong with him,” Happy muttered, resulting with me kicking his seat.

“Listen to the music,” I said, sitting back comfortably.

“I don’t want to listen to my relaxing CD since I know it won’t help me too much right now,” he half-whined, a childish tone in his voice.

“Don’t make me play the _Les Miz_ soundtrack,” I warned.

“No! No musicals! You know what happened the last time you played that one!”

“Then listen to your relaxing CD and shush!” I demanded. “I’d like to get home without being in an accident and I need to think over a plan for tonight.”

He glanced my way over his shoulder and focused on the road again. “Is this something where I have to drop you off?”

“Nope. Not this time,” I said, already thinking over what I need to do and didn’t say another word.

For the rest of the drive back, I thought over many things that could have been potentially good ideas, although some seemed very awful, too. One of my ideas was to play the damsel in distress and hoped that he’d find me, but it didn’t really seem like a good idea. I couldn’t come off as the fragile girl who couldn’t handle a couple of creeps with weapons; I had to let him see that I was an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and I could handle anything. It seemed like my best option was to look for him, but my problem was _where_. Right now I was beginning to believe that Fury picked the wrong person for this; I had no idea what to do in order to find Spider-Man and already felt like I’d screw it up.

I sighed quietly, really not liking that I was over thinking this. Most agents used the S.H.I.E.L.D. database in order to find their target, but how there was little information on Spider-Man right now I doubted that I could find him so easily in New York. Then it hit me: maybe I _can_ use the database to find him. I wouldn’t have to go to the Helicarrier itself, but maybe I could use the program from my own computer and search for Spider-Man there. It was absolutely perfect!

Looking out the window, I was able to see that we were at the building and saw Happy jog over to my door. When he opened it, I grabbed my things, and stepped out.

“I’m going to park the car, go inside and make sure your dad doesn’t notice anything…different about you,” Happy said, closing the door, and walked back to the driver’s side.

I looked at him, confused. “What do you mean ‘make sure he doesn’t notice anything different’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If Tony notices that you’re smiling or giggling too much, I’m screwed for taking you there,” he said, raising his voice a bit so I could hear over the honking cars driving by.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You’re being paranoid again, Happy.” I turned on my heel, walked to the door, smiling politely to the doorman, and entered after he opened the door.

Once I was inside, I made my way over to the elevator, and hit the up button. I started thinking back to Peter’s house and how sweet his aunt was. It was still interesting how the mother figures in our lives were pretty similar, I would have loved to ask him more about his uncle, but I knew how it felt to speak of a deceased loved one. It is hard to think about them and usually it hurts, but I also knew that keeping the pleasant memories about them was great. As I entered the elevator, I pushed the button to the top level and was thinking over some things from the meeting I had with Fury yesterday. He seemed so positive that I could bring in Spider-Man and that he will join S.H.I.E.L.D. Of course, I knew it wouldn’t be so easy; this guy is a vigilante and they always prefer working alone. It even seemed like the idea of joining the Avengers wouldn’t really appeal to him.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, already feeling a headache coming for just thinking about a man I have yet to meet. Sighing, I felt the elevator stop and saw that I was already on the top level. I stepped out, gripping the strap to my messenger bag and reached the door to the penthouse where I placed my hand on the handle. I felt my heart beat a bit faster, getting anxious for Tony’s reaction in case he did find out I was with a male friend.

I took a deep breath, mentally counted to ten, and opened the door. When I entered, I was glad to see I wasn’t greeted with an interrogating Tony and a shielding Pepper. All I saw was Charlie run over to me carrying his plush raccoon with pure joy in his eyes.

“Charlie!” I smiled, kneeling down and petted my puppy. “Aww, I missed you!”

The sound of bare feet padding against the hardwood floor caught my attention and I looked up to see Pepper, who was already out of her work clothes and in a pair of track pants and t-shirt.

“I see that Charlie found you,” she smiled, walking over to me and hugged me when I stood up. “How was school, sweetie?”

“It was good. I have a couple of things that I need Dad to sign, though,” I said, pulling away from her embrace, walked over to the couch and sat down. I took out a folder that held everything the teachers had given me and felt something against my hand. I took out the crumpled paper and glared at it. “Ugh, you are not going to believe what happened to me today.”

“I’m guessing by the looks of that paper, you got another person trying to slip a résumé with your things again,” Pepper said, earning a curt nod from me.

“Damn straight.”

“Language,” she warned.

“Oh, come on! That one’s not as bad as what we’ve heard Tony say before!” I complained, staring at her with wide eyes. “That’s not fair, Pepper.”

“Sorry, but no foul language in front of Charlie.” Pepper took the crumbled paper from my hands and went to the other side of the living room.

“I don’t even swear that often,” I grumbled and realized something. “Charlie’s a puppy! He can’t fully understand the human language!”

“Not yet, but once he is fully trained and understands commands, he is likely to understand a bit of what we mean.” She gave me teasing smile and was already setting up the paper shredder that was next to a box full of paper.

“Very funny,” I responded, adding sarcasm to that. “What’s in the box?”

“Old documents and contracts to things when Stark Industries was still manufacturing weapons,” Pepper answered.

I nodded, finding it hard to believe that after all this time there’d still be papers from that. “So, where is he?”

“Tony’s upstairs.” She glanced my way and slid the paper into the shredder, where it whirred to life and destroyed the résumé the receptionist at the school gave me.

The noise of the paper shredder caused Charlie to bark and growl, hating the sound of it.

“Shhh, relax, Charlie,” I commanded, giving him a gentle but firm tap on his hind leg. Once he relaxed, I looked to Pepper, giving her a confused look. “I thought the upstairs was off limits since Tony might not be interested in using the rooms?”

“That was the plan until I got back here and saw that he hired some people to move all of our things upstairs.” Pepper turned off the machine, much to Charlie’s delight and walked back to the couch—sitting next to me.

“Wait. Yours and his, or all of our things?”

“All of our things.”

“But I liked my room,” I sighed, hating that Tony did that. I liked how I had everything, liked that I had my own bathroom and also didn’t have to worry about Charlie being nervous around stairs.

“This one is a bit larger than the first one—about the same size as the one back in L.A. And you still have your own bathroom, you certainly have more closet space, as well as more space to have some of Charlie’s things in there, and you have your own balcony,” she said, hoping to comfort me some.

“A balcony?” I repeated, catching my interest. Pepper’s always known that I wanted one; maybe the switch wouldn’t be so bad.

“It’s not that big, but you still have one,” she added.

“Does that mean it’s not safe for me to be on it?” I asked.

“No you can. Tony was out there earlier testing it out, so you’re fine to stand on it. Just make sure there isn’t any Rapunzel moments, honey,” she said, giving me a look.

“I don’t have blonde hair that’s fifty feet long,” I quipped. “My hair is barely reaching my waist again and it’s dark.”

She gave me a look and thought over something. “Okay, then no _Romeo and Juliet_ moments.”

I scoffed, shook my head and got up from the couch. “With who? I’m not interested in any of the boys at school.” I made sure to have all the papers in my hand, and walked over to the stairs.

“You never know, honey,” Pepper smiled, shrugging nonchalantly as she got up, and walked over to me with Charlie following after her. “You might just attract the attention a certain boy with brown hair and brown eyes.”

“Shhh, do you want Tony to hear you!” I hissed, playfully swatting her with the papers. “And I highly doubt that, Pepper.”

“Remember, Alison: sometimes a girl’s male friend can just later be her boyfriend.” She gave me smug look and walked up the stairs.

“Just because it worked for you and Tony, does not necessarily mean it’ll happen for me,” I said, shaking my head and saw that she was still walking up the stairs—not listening to me.

I looked back to Charlie, seeing that he was bounding up the stairs after Pepper. It didn’t surprise me that Charlie was really fond of her; it all thanks to Pepper that I get some help with him while I was busy with other things. I went up after them, taking in the second level that I believed we wouldn’t use at all and saw that it was now decorated in the same way as it is the downstairs—modern with everything reading Tony Stark. Although, just like the downstairs, it seemed to give off a home-like feel to it because of Pepper living here. Just thinking about the idea of not having Pepper around when I needed her gave me a great appreciation of that. I was able to see pictures of us on the wall, the very same ones we had back in L.A. There was always one that caught my attention out of the rest: the first picture that was taken after my adoption. Both Pepper and Tony suggested we’d go to Disneyland since that was what “normal” families did. I remembered having a blast and Tony bought me so many sweets and toys—much to Pepper’s protesting. We went on so many rides, met so many characters, and walked around until our feet were sore. Pepper wanted the three of us to take a picture right in front of the castle, and with the help of one of the employees there we did. Tony looked so much younger here, less stressed, that easy going smile of his was large and bright thanks to our journey around the park. Pepper looked the same, it seemed like she never aged at all after nine years; she smiled equally as much as Tony did that day and the both of us got princess inspired makeovers that day. And lastly, the eight-year-old version of myself looked so happy being there; my hair styled neatly with curls, completed with colored and glittered hair extensions with a small tiara and my face done with cosmetic glitter—just like Pepper’s. My blue eyes large and bright, full of excitement and happiness, and my smile large just as big as Pepper’s and Tony’s.

This picture was one I truly loved to see all the time. Yes the others were nice, too, but it was this one that I enjoyed since it was the first time since my mother’s death that I smiled and laughed. And it was all thanks to Tony and Pepper.

Hearing some noises coming from down the hall, I walked further down until I reached a room with a door slightly ajar. When I opened it, I saw Tony and Pepper talk over something. Looking around, I see that the things in the room were mine, and instantly knew that I was in my new bedroom. It was larger than the one I claimed before downstairs, all my furniture didn’t seem as close together—giving both Charlie and myself more space to move around. Charlie’s bed was in here, too, as well as a couple of his toys.

“What do you think?” Tony asked, catching my attention to look away from everything else and look at him.

“It’s definitely bigger than the room I had yesterday,” I commented, walking over to him and Pepper. “What made you decide to use the rooms up here after all?”

“When it was brought to my attention that we have all this space that is meant to make this place feel like a home,” he answered, shrugging. “Plus, I need a lot space downstairs in some of the rooms if I’m going to work on some…stuff.”

“You’re not going to convert one of the rooms into a mini display room for your suits, are you?” I shook my head; back in L.A. he had something close to that except it held a lot of his cars, robots, and other high tech things he made.

“Well, display room wasn’t the term I was looking for. Guess you can call it an at home office,” he said, walking over to my desk where he picked up a bottle of water and took a sip. “Not that that’ll last long, but it was good knowing that you didn’t have a lot stuff. Even though I have a hunch that you’ll get more things and fill up this room with them, or something like that.”

“Ask Alison about her day,” Pepper suggested to him, knowing that we’ll continue off in a conversation that would go on for hours.

“Right. How was it, exactly?” he asked, looking from Pepper to me. “I mean you went to the school you hated before you even attended but came back nearly four and a half hours after school was finished for the day.”

“It was fine,” I shrugged. “I have a couple of things I need for you to sign.” I lifted the papers to him, smiling.

“Alison, you know I don’t like being handed things.” He eyed them as if they were something harmful.

“Oh, come on, Dad. It’s something I need you to look over and sign so I can get credit in my classes,” I sighed, not liking whenever he did this with me. “Please take the papers and look over everything.”

He grunted, taking the papers from my hand and looked them over. “I only have five papers here. Why aren’t there six?”

“Because one of my classes is just being a service worker for the library.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, nodding to himself as he looked over the papers. “And did you have fun with your friend today?”

I blanched, feeling my heart stop. “What are you talking about?”

“You know, your new buddy from school. What was his name? Parker? Or was it Peter?” His gazed lifted to meet mine and shrugged. “You did see him at the school, right?”

“Oh, like you mean did I see him and hung out with him at school only?” I asked, feeling anxious and tried to remain calm so Tony wouldn’t be suspicious.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. Did you see him?” he asked, his eyes searching mine almost like the answer was there.

“Yeah! Yeah, of course I saw him at school. He definitely was there,” I said, my voice hit an octave higher. I cleared my throat and bit my tongue to keep from laughing nervously. “And his name is Peter. Parker is his last name. It was also because of Peter that I was able to learn a lot about the school and we’re in almost all the same classes.”

“Oh, well, that’s great!” Pepper smiled, finally joining in on the conversation. “Did you make any other friends at the school?”

“No, not really,” I admitted, walking over to my desk and took a seat in the chair. “I mean I did talk to other people there, but I wouldn’t say I’m making any other friends.”

“And how does this Peter kid count as an actual friend if you’ve only known him for a day?” my father questioned, speculation written all over his face.

“Because I talked to him and got a very good vibe from him, Dad,” I answered, sitting back into my seat and crossed my legs—relaxing more now than I was a while ago. “Plus, I’m trained to spot a good person from a bad one.”

“Sure, use that as an excuse,” he scoffed, looking through the papers.

“Okay, the both of you, let’s stop this now before it continues,” Pepper interjected, raising her hands calmly. She looked toward Tony. “Now, I suggest you look over those papers so that way Alison can earn her credit.”

“Fine, I’ll go do that.” Tony organized the papers and was about to make his way to the door until he looked to me. “Have you finished your homework?”

“Yes, I did everything in school.” I uncrossed my legs and began unzipping my boots.

“Good because Pepper had to take over for you in taking the dog out for a walk and looked after him.”

“Yes, Dad, I’m completely aware of that. I’ll even make sure I take Charlie for a walk tomorrow myself,” I said, taking off my boots and smiled at Pepper. “And thank you so much for doing that for me, Pepper.”

“You’re welcome, honey. It was the least I can do,” she smiled back. “Now, we want you to be back before midnight since it is still a school night and you shouldn’t use S.H.I.E.L.D. business as an excuse.”

“I know,” I nodded. “You both made that point very clear after you found out I was an agent.”

“Well, we’d like to remind you every chance we get—just to instill that in that brain of yours,” Tony piped in.

“Of course,” I muttered, getting up from my seat. “Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I have to get ready so I can go out tonight.”

“Okay, but be careful out there, Alison,” Pepper said, that motherly tone perfectly clear in her voice.

“I will, don’t worry,” I smiled, hoping to ease Pepper’s nerves.

She looked to Tony, concern still in her eyes. “Pepper, she’ll be fine. She’s handled an alien army and a demi god—nothing to worry about. The most she’ll see is a few punks doing some petty crimes.”

“He’s got a point,” I agreed, nodding. “Listen to him, Pepper. He knows what he’s talking about.”

Pepper sighed. “Sure, when she’s out fighting and on missions you’re not so strict, but when it comes to boys…”

“I do worry, but not as much as you do,” he countered.

“Okay, guys. I hate to break this up, but I’m kind of wasting time here.” I showed the clock on my phone. “I’d like to go in less than twenty minutes from now.”

“We might as well leave her to that.” Pepper and Tony both said their byes and walked out of my room with Charlie.

It was good knowing that Pepper would look after him again for me. I really didn’t like that I was not spending much time with him, but I had a job to do right now. I was fairly certain that I’d have time to take him to Central Park tomorrow after school, hopefully a good walk around there will perfect for him.

I walked over to my closet, seeing that it was different than the one downstairs, and searched for my cases. Once I found them, I opened the one that contained my weapons and gadgets, and then the other that held my navy blue S.H.I.E.L.D. cat suit. I hadn’t worn it since last spring and I was very glad it wasn’t ruined from that. I changed out of my clothes and into the suit, grabbed all my stuff and slipped on another pair of boots—this time a pair that were flat. I was a bit comfortable when I had the wedges on, but I’d rather run comfortably tonight. Glancing at the mirror, I combed my hair, and tied it into a tight ponytail again. After I did that, I made sure to change up my makeup; making sure to add more eyeliner and darken up the eye shadow to help me appear older. When I had everything I needed, walked over to my laptop and turned it on.

I made sure to sync with the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and the Helicarrier to search for Spider-Man, keeping my fingers crossed that no one from the Helicarrier sees that I was on; last thing I needed were other agents seeing me. I managed to get enough information on possible locations that Spider-Man would be, all of which are near or within Manhattan and Queens. Syncing the information I found to the GPS/watch device on my left wrist, I shut off my laptop, got and made my way to the door where I walked out, half-ran down the stairs, and out the door, closing it behind me.

* * *

I had been walking around Manhattan for over an hour and I hadn’t seen one sign of Spider-Man anywhere. I made sure to be around all the places that he could have possibly been, even looked out for any of the webbing he used that comes out of his wrists, but found nothing. If I could, I would have asked people if there was anything about him, but it wouldn’t have ended so well if I was recognized. Making sure to stick closer to the shadows, I continued to look until I was in Times Square. This part of the city was especially bright and noisy; so many people walking around, taxis cabs honking at other taxis cabs and so many flashing lights from both the electronic and non-electronic billboards.

There was no way I could hide so easily here, although I had a feeling that this might be the best place to search for him. Some of the locations I’ve searched definitely involved the Midtown area and I was more than willing to figure out why that is after I find this web-head.

I stuck close to what seemed to be the cleanest alley I could find and took out my sunglasses; making sure to switch on the night vision feature to look up toward the tops of the buildings. I wasn’t really able to see much thanks to all the lights that were giving off a faint glare. Glancing down toward the end of the alley, I saw that it was empty, and decided to make my way down. I was glad that it didn’t smell so much here as the previous ones did, just the thought of urine on the street was making my stomach uneasy, but I made sure to push through it. _You’re an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and agents don’t vomit on the job!_ I mentally scolded myself. Most people wouldn’t dare go down an alley during the night for fear of coming face-to-face with a couple of thieves, but I kind of doubt I’d find any right now.

Well, that was until I heard some footsteps behind me. 

“Well, well, well, look what we have here, boys. It’s a pretty little girl,” I heard one of them say, his voice deep and harsh. 

_Seems like I just jinxed myself_ , I rolled my eyes, took off my glasses, and turned around to face them—seeing that it was five men that appeared to be in their late twenties. Most of them had corduroy jackets and jeans on, and only two had shoulder length hair. They seemed to almost fit the description of men that Spider-Man would go after—perhaps with the help of these guys I could find him much faster. 

“Hmm, she really is a pretty little thing, ain’t she?” Another one gave me a once over and ran his tongue along his lips suggestively.

I internally shuddered in disgust. There was no way I was going to deal with jerks like these tonight—no matter how much they might possibly help me. 

“Hey, check it out, Ace! It’s Tony Stark’s kid!” The one to my left exclaimed. 

My heart stopped and I blanched. _This might not be good_. I made sure to have a calm mask on. 

“Would you look at that, Billy’s right!” the previous man, Ace, said, grinning with udder delight. 

“I bet her old man will pay big money to get her back.”

I noticed they were getting closer to me, trying to seem menacing and terrifying, and if it were some other situation, it could have worked. 

I decided to mess with them, make them believe that I was just a helpless kid. Making sure my voice trembled, I said, “Oh no, y-you guys can’t do that! My daddy will be so worried for me.”

“Sorry, sweetheart, but it seems like your daddy _will_ have to worry tonight because you’re coming with us.” He snapped his fingers and two of his goons were already starting to advance toward me.  

I took a step back, slowly moving my right hand to my right hip, and carefully held two paintball sized stun pellets. I bit my lip. “I won’t go willingly and-and I don’t have anything of value on me.” 

Ace snickered, causing his buddies to laugh as well, and tsked, “Oh, believe me, kid, your dad will be more than willing to pay up anything for you, and about you not coming willingly, well…we’ll just make you.” 

“Five grown men against one of me? That really isn’t fair!” I sniffed, making my lip quiver a bit, and looked to the ground. Once I heard them laugh, I chuckled, looked up and gave them a smug smirk. “But, then again, you guys don’t look so…tough.” 

“Just ‘cause you’re wearing that little getup, doesn’t mean you can fight against us, sweetheart,” the perv that was checking me out snickered. 

Once they all joined in, I tossed the pellets at the two men nearest me—watching them yell in pain, and fall to the ground. Before anything else happened, I broke into a sprint, making sure to run away from these guys as fast as I could. 

“Grab her!” Ace yelled, anger evident in his voice. 

That should teach them to believe I was some damsel in distress, I continued to run until I was out of the alley, and turned to my right. I checked the compass on my GPS/watch, and saw that I was heading north. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from these guys and fast. The pounding of feet behind me caused me to run much faster, I wasn’t sure if I could outrun them here, but I had to at least ditch them somehow. I continued to run, nearly dodging other people along the way and was shockingly surprised no one noticed that I was being chased; maybe it was probably because I was more within the supposed secluded area of the city, but I wasn’t sure. I just knew that I had to keep running; there was no way these guys would keep chasing me. Although it seemed like I kept proving myself wrong as they started to catch up to me again. 

After it felt like I was running for almost half an hour, I looked behind me and saw that they were still chasing me. I tried reaching for my gun, but found my holster empty, realizing that I left it home. 

“The one time where I need it…I don’t have it!” I groaned, and continued to run. 

I looked around, seeing that I was passing up less familiar buildings. Checking the GPS on my wrist, I saw that I was nearing Central Park, and saw that I might have a chance of either losing them or fighting them off. I was mostly hoping for the former rather than the latter, but once I heard one of them laugh behind me, I made sure to pick up the pace. 

When I ran through the entrance, dodging a few late night joggers, I made a beeline for the trees to hide there. I slowed to a jog until I stopped completely, leaning against a tree to catch my breath. I tried to breathe as quietly as possible, hoping to not attract attention, and hoped that they wouldn’t find me. 

“I saw her go this way,” a male voice said, causing me to tense. 

“She can’t be far. After running for so long, there’s no way this kid can find her way out of this park at night.” Ace’s voice sounded certain. 

I reached down to the small pack I have near my left hip, and pulled out my sunglasses; very grateful that the night vision was still enabled when I slipped them on. I looked to my left and was able to make out three figures slowly making their way toward me. Very carefully, I made sure to back away, and hid behind another tree. 

“You sure put on a great show back there, girly!” Ace shouted, hoping to draw me out. “But I’m sure you’re very tired after all that running. Just come out and you won’t get hurt.”

I heard them approach even closer; reaching into my pack again, I pulled out another stun pellet, and a smoke bomb. Quietly counting to ten, I came out from behind the tree, and tossed the smoke bomb—watching it engulf them in thick gray smoke. When they began coughing and coking for air, I came up from behind one of them and pushed a pressure point in his neck, seeing that he fell to the grass. Someone grabbed me in a vice like grip—this one being pretty short—causing me to butt the back of my head, hard, against his nose. He let me go, groaning and I turned around to jam the heel of my palm against his nose again—making sure I broke it. I kneed him in the stomach and then dropped to the grass, swinging my leg under his and dropped him to the ground.

When I stood up and turned around, I came face-to-face with the barrel of gun, and froze. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me again, causing me to drop my stun pellet, hold me in place and I saw Ace’s stern face glare at me.

“I don’t know who you think you are, kid, but you’ve got a lot of nerve trying to fight us,” he hissed, keeping the gun at my face. “Now, I’d really hate to ruin a face so pretty like yours, but you’ve left me no choice.”

He raised his hand to my face, getting ready to hit me until I saw something fly from my left, and grab hold of Ace’s arm.

“Now, come on, guys. Is that any way to treat a lady?” A male voice said, causing us to turn to the left and saw a shadowy figure hunched up in the tree.

“Get out of here, Spidey!” Ace shouted, trying to yank his hand free.

“Seriously? You seriously think that’ll work?” There was amusement in Spider-Man’s voice, and I saw more of his webbing shoot from his left wrist, latching onto Ace’s gun.

The gun flew out of his hand and landed away from us; I saw Ace yanked away from where I was and landed a couple of feet away from me. Looking to my left again, I saw Spider-Man land close to where I was being held by one of Ace’s guys. 

“Now are you going to let her go or do I have to fight you for her?” he asked, titling his head to the side as he looked between the guy behind me and myself. 

The other guy’s response was tightening his grip, causing me to groan. Deciding that I’ve had enough, I stomped my foot on his, feeling him let go of me, and ducked out of the way as I saw Spider-Man use his webbing to wrap around him. When I saw that he was finished, I dropkicked the guy right to the ground. I looked to Spider-Man again; seeing him tense up and jumped out of the way as Ace tried to shove him into a tree, but before he even collided with the tree himself, I punch him right in the face—knocking him out. 

I shook out my hand, groaning softly as I watched Spider-Man use his webbing on Ace. “Man, that guy really had a thick head.” 

“Well, hopefully he learned his lesson and won’t mess with you again,” he said, looking from Ace to me. “But I wasn’t sure how long you could have handled against them.” 

“I could have handled everything perfectly fine, thank you,” I muttered, putting away my glasses back into my pack. 

“Really? That guy had a gun, how could you have handled against that?” he questioned, his glassy yellow eyes looking at me—I struggled to not squirm under his gaze. 

“Well…I did until that happened.” I bit my lip, looking down at the ground; seeing how well he entrapped those guys with his web. “So…thanks for helping.” 

“You’re welcome.” He gave me a half-bow, making me laugh weakly. “Need a lift?” 

“A lift? Meaning you’ll take me home?” I nearly slapped myself for even asking that. 

“What else would I mean?” 

I thought it over; it would seem like a good idea to speak with Spider-Man when I’m back on my building. Plus, he was willing to take me back and I wasn’t expecting that from him. 

“Sure, I’d like that,” I responded, smiling. 

“All right, come on.” He started walking away from where we were hiding, and I followed after him. 

I had a feeling as to how he was going to take me back and I was getting nervous with the idea of it. When we were out from all the trees, I saw the moon shine brightly over the park and cast more light around the area than the lamps did. I looked to Spider-Man and caught him staring at me, which caused him to look away and shift from one foot to the other. 

“So are you going to take me back now?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips, and brow arched. 

“Yeah, come on.” He walked closer to me, wrapping one of his arms around my waist, and I instinctively wrapped mine around his neck. As much as I hated to admit it, my female mind couldn’t stop going crazy over the fact that I was somewhat touching Spider-Man’s lean muscled body. “Hang on tight.” 

He raised his hand up, angling it to a nearby building, and I saw the fiber-cable-like webbing shoot out of a device that was on his wrist. _So that was how he used it._ When it struck the building, we were both flung up into the air, and he continued to shoot the webs to navigate his way through the city. Despite the strong hold he had on me, I couldn’t help but hold on tighter to him—I was nervous about falling to my death here. Spider-Man asked where I lived and I gave him the address to the building. 

Throughout the entire trip he’d whisper in my ear to calm my nerves and normally I wouldn’t have any that were this bad, but it seemed like being high up in the air can do that to a person. It took us nearly twenty minutes to get to the roof of my building and I was glad to be on a flat surface again. When he let go of my waist, I sat down on the ground, and put my head between my knees—making sure to take deep breaths. 

“Wow, I must say, Miss Stark, you really aren’t a fan of heights,” he chuckled; his voice was very close to me. 

I looked up and saw that he was crouched right in front of me, those glassy yellow eyes showing off my reflection, and I couldn’t stop myself from getting lost in them, and wonder who could be behind that mask. 

Mentally shaking my head, I let out a weak laugh, and hugged my knees close my chest. “Normally I don’t but it seemed like this time, flying through New York with a masked man, certainly did the trick.” 

“Hey, I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, Miss Stark.” If I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn he was smirking under that mask. “I would never let anything bad happen to you.” 

“I have a first name, you know,” I said, keeping a close watch on him and made sure to not fully look into those yellow eyes on his mask. 

“Am I allowed to call you by that?” he asked and the questioned totally threw me off. 

“What do you mean?” My brows furrowed, head tilting to the side as I looked at him. “Do you need permission to call me by my actual name?” 

He shrugged, “It never hurts to ask.”

It still seemed strange that he’d ask, but I gave him a small shrug, and small smile. “Well, Spider-Man, you are free to call me Alison.” 

“Can I call you ‘Alice?’ I love to give nicknames to those I meet.” His tone was playful, almost too playful. 

My smile dropped; the name caused me to tense and I shook my head. “No, sorry. That’s one name you can’t call me.” 

“Why not? I think Alice is a nice name. Sounds old fashioned or like that girl from the _Wonderland_ movies.” 

I continued to shake my head, making sure to stay calm. “No. I’m sorry, but I have some personal issues with that name right now and…only very few can call me that. Like _very_ few.” 

He sighed, raising his hands in surrender. “All right. I won’t push you into telling me the reason—I won’t call you Alice.” 

“Thanks,” I muttered, shaking my head again to clear it, and got up in a standing position. “And thanks for bringing me here, but now there’s something I need say to you.” 

“And what is it that you need to say?” He stood up from his crouch, standing much taller than I was, kind of made me wish I had my heeled boots. 

“Well…” I trailed off, biting my lip as I thought over what I was going to say. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m wearing something like this.” 

“Yeah I did, but didn’t feel like questioning it because I thought it was just a fashion statement you girls seem to go through a lot.” 

“I was looking for you, Spider-Man,” I said, hoping that I’d come up with the right wording along the way. 

“You were looking for me? Wow, I didn’t know I had such a big fan with Alison Stark!” I was able to hear a smirk in his voice and I must say that brash and cocky didn’t really suit him well. 

“That’s not what I meant,” I rolled my eyes. “I’m here on behalf of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D. for short.” 

“S.H.I.E.L.D.? You mean that agency that dealt with everything after those aliens and that Asgardian attacked New York?” he questioned. 

“So you have heard of us.” 

“Wait? Us? You mean to tell me you’re an agent for them?” 

“Of course I am, why else would I be dressed like this, and can kicked the most butt from those guys? But, before anything else is said, my boss, Nick Fury, wants you to join the agency.” It’s odd that it felt so easy and I knew that it shouldn’t. 

“Sorry, I’m not interested.” 

“Not interested? What do you mean you’re not interested?” 

“I’m not the type that works with others,” he shrugged. “I’m more of a loner.” 

“This is an excellent opportunity to join a very powerful agency that can really help you out, and you won’t accept it? Why?” No matter how I expected for him to actually say no, I kind of hated that I was right, and was failing in convincing him. 

“I told you my reason: I’m better off alone.” He looked away from me and stared off at the buildings surrounding us. 

“My boss wants you to join,” I added, folding my arms as I looked at him. 

“Then tell him I declined,” he responded, not even looking at me anymore. 

“You can learn a lot of things from the agents—it could help you advance more as a hero,” I said, hoping that whatever I said could at least get his attention. Although I had a feeling I knew one thing that might help more. 

“Again, I’m still not interested, Agent.” 

“There’s a spot on the Avengers with your name on it if you join,” I blurted out, hoping that that should reel him in. 

Spider-Man’s head titled to the side and he turned around to face me. “They want to put me on the Avengers?” 

“Yes. Director Fury saw how you handled that situation with Dr. Curtis Connors not long ago and he believes that you’ll be a great addition to the team,” I said, unfolding my arms, thinking back to my meeting with Fury and all that stuff I saw about Spider-Man and the Lizard. 

“Because of how I handled that situation with Dr. Connors?” he repeated and shook his head. “If he knew about it, then how come he or his agency didn’t come to help with that? Some people had their lives ruined because of that incident.” 

I paled, not sure how to respond to that at all. I didn’t realize that was hard on him; it must have been if it bothered him at all. 

“Let me guess, Fury only sent you to be the messenger and thought that since you’re a girl, I wouldn’t say no to you?” he questioned, folding his arms. 

I glared at him. “No! Director Fury asked me to come and talk to you because he…believed that I…” I trailed off, thinking over what he said. Could that have been the reason why Fury gave me this job? 

“Exactly my point.” He unfolded his arms and turned on his heel, making his way to the ledge of the roof. “Goodnight, Alison.”

I shook my head and followed after him. “Wait! You can’t go. I need you to hear me out about joining the team!” 

“I already told you I’m not interested, and make sure you tell that to your boss.” He jumped off the building; I saw the webbing shoot out from his wrist, and watched as Spider-Man swung away from my building. 

I groaned, sitting down on the ground and buried my face in my hands. This didn’t go as I planned and I knew that I’d stop at nothing until I got Spider-Man to agree in joining both the agency and the team—no matter how many times I tried.


	5. Along Came a Spider(Man)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! I hope you all enjoy this just like the last one. I'll probably have two more up before the year ends :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

Walking into school the next morning was definitely not something I was too thrilled about. I was still a little ticked off that Spider-Man declined the offer—no matter how much I knew he would. A small part of me was hoping that I’d prove myself wrong, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I was glad that neither Tony nor Pepper asked about it, I wasn’t in the mood to speak of it and wanted to get ready for bed. Though, I hardly slept at all; I was constantly tossing and turning, and whenever I did manage to sleep, I’d wake up due to dreaming about spider webs and glassy yellow eyes. 

As I continued down the hall toward my locker, I kept receiving looks from a couple of the students. I was pretty sure they’d do this for a while since I am still the new kid. I got a lot yesterday because I was always with Peter, but I made sure to not notice after second period. However, right now walking on my own in the hall made me feel uneasy, and I wrapped my arms around myself. 

I just tried not to dwell on that and kept walking, making sure to keep at a pace that my body allowed me to walk; I was _completely_ sore. Running and fighting those guys last night did a number on me; I even had some bruises on my arms and hands this morning. _I probably should have stretched before I went out._  

When I finally reached my locker, I put in the combination, and opened it. I slipped off my messenger bag, groaning softly, and grabbed the things I needed for my first couple of classes. I was glad that I dressed in more comfortable clothing today: dark washed skinny jeans, a white V-neck shirt with a gray cardigan and a pair of black ballet flats—different from what I was wearing yesterday. I couldn’t even bring myself to wear heeled boots again, not with my feet being so sore. Just the thought of them now was making my feet ache even more. I was about to close my locker until the faint discoloration on my right hand caught my attention; thanks to punching that creep last night, my hand was left with a slight bruise and I never really had that happen to my hand before until last night. It seemed like being out of the game for a while really screwed up some things. 

I sighed and tried to bring down the sleeves of my cardigan to cover up my knuckles. It wasn’t much, but at least it was better than nothing. The sound of shoes against the linoleum caught my attention and I looked up to see Peter walk over to his locker; his head down, hood up, and I could hear the music blasting from his earbuds. 

Once I heard the music turn down, Peter took one of his earbuds out of his left ear, and began putting in his locker combination. “Good morning, Alison.” 

“Good morning, Peter,” I greeted; puzzled that he hasn’t looked at me. “Um, is something wrong?” 

“No. Why do you ask?” he questioned, still not fully looking at me as he put away a couple of his textbooks into his locker. 

“Well, you haven’t looked at me and, I don’t know, I feel like I might have done something wrong to upset you,” I explained as I closed my locker, attempting to get a better look at him. 

The hood of his sweatshirt under his jacket still obscured his face; I was only able to make out his nose and his lips. 

Peter shook his head just slightly, and responded, “You didn’t do anything. I just had a rough night, and couldn’t sleep.” 

“Well, would you mind taking off your hood so I can see you?” I asked, biting my lip. 

His lips pressed firmly into a tight line, possibly thinking over what I asked; once he had his conclusion, he dropped his head, and pulled off his hood. What I saw next caused me to gasp and dropped my messenger bag in the process. Peter had a huge bruise on the side of his face and what appeared to be a scrape along his chin. The markings weren’t very raw, but they still looked bad. When he looked at me, he grimaced at my expression. 

“Oh, my God. Peter, what happened to your face?” I gasped, lifting my hand to touch the bruise on his cheek, but he turned away from me, and stared into his locker. “Who did this to you?” 

“No one did this to me,” he sighed, closing his locker, and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he turned his attention back to me. “I went out skating last night since I couldn’t sleep; I didn’t pay attention where I was going until I nearly flew off my board and into a brick wall.” 

I didn’t really believe that had happened; I could see that he was lying, and I had no idea why he’d cover it up with that lie. “Peter…” I sighed, shaking my head and picked up my messenger bag. I grabbed his wrist and began tugging him to follow me. “Come on.” 

“Where are we going?” he asked, walking right behind me as I nearly dragged him forward. 

“We are going to one of the very empty bathrooms and I’m going to take care of that on your face,” I answered, already rounding the corner. 

“No, Alison, you don’t have to do anything to this. I’ll be fine in a couple of days,” he protested and stopped walking, causing me to nearly jerk back to him. 

Despite him only being seventeen-years-old, Peter was strong—quite strong if he was able to have me nearly fall back when he only stopped. That caught my curiosity, but I didn’t really dwell too much on it. “Trust me, Peter, it’ll be fine. I use this stuff on my dad all the time whenever he first started out as Iron Man, and I’m sure it’ll cover up what happened to your face.” Even though there was a small part of me that felt like he was lying about how he got them, I still couldn’t stand seeing those bruises on his face. 

“You’re going to use makeup on my face?” His eyebrows shot up, questioning what I said. 

“Just concealer, and it’s not like regular makeup, this is really good stuff and has a full-on long lasting coverage. It’s completely fine,” I explained, going into my bag and showed him the travel-sized pallet I had with me. “And it’s totally washable—that way you can take it off before or after you get home.” 

Peter just stared at me, conflicted about doing this. “I don’t know, Alison. I’ll be fine.” 

“Peter, it’s okay. I want to do this. Please?” I asked, pleading with him with my eyes. 

He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and bit the inside of his cheek—thinking it over. After a couple of minutes, Peter sighed and then nodded. “All right. I’ll let you take care of this.” 

“Thank you,” I smiled and started walking to the girls’ bathroom. 

“Wait, are you sure that this one is safe for me to be in?” he questioned, eying the door suspiciously. 

“Yes. The librarian told me that there’s rarely anyone in there and it’s perfect for someone who wants to either change their clothes, or have some privacy from everyone else,” I explained, looking back at him with my hand resting against the door. 

He seemed confused by that, not really helping him at all. “Are you sure it’s safe?” 

“Yes. I’ll even lock it, too, if that makes you happy.” 

Peter looked around the hall, making sure no one was looking, he groaned softly, and made his way to the door. “All right, but hopefully this’ll be quick.” 

I smiled, opened the door for him and followed right after he entered. There wasn’t really anything wrong with it; the bathroom was pretty clean and bright since it was on the first floor—I still wasn’t sure why not many people chose it. But, whatever the reason, I was glad to have it empty right now to take care of the bruises on Peter’s face. Once we were inside, I locked the door, and looked around for the chair that was still inside. It seemed odd that there was a chair in the girls’ bathroom, but I found it here yesterday when I decided to look around the school, and assumed someone had put it there some time ago. I brought the chair over to one of the sinks and placed it there, patting the seat to attract Peter’s attention. 

“It’s all set,” I announced, smirking as I placed my bag on one of the sinks. 

“I still think we’ll get caught,” Peter said, watching me as he walked over to the chair, and sat down. 

“Stop worrying, we’ll be fine,” I said and washed my hands in one of the free sinks. 

“And if we are?” He raised a brow, eying me as I dried my hands. 

“If we get caught…then I’ll say you ran in here after I did to comfort me over something that happened,” I shrugged, trying not to appear amused by his worriment. 

“I meant what I said before…” 

“Peter, relax. Everything will be fine and once I get this stuff on those bruises, you’ll be as good as new.” I picked up the concealer and a clean makeup sponge from my bag, and walked over to him. 

He sighed, sat back and looked at me—giving me the okay to get started. I opened the pallet, dabbed at it with the sponge and carefully applied it over the bruise on his cheek, biting my lip whenever he winced. 

“Sorry,” I muttered, pushing my outgrown bangs as best as I could out of my face. “I’m trying to be as careful as I can be without making it worse.” 

Peter moved his hand to my face, helping me move my hair away, and tucked it behind my ear. “No, it’s fine. I’m sure I’ll get used to the pressure of it.” He gave me a weak smile. I was still surprised by his action; feeling my face become warm and bit my lip, returning to covering up the bruises. When he saw this, he cleared his throat. “So, what happened when you got home? I was kind of expecting a text from you saying that your dad was going to pay me a visit, but when you didn’t…I guess I got a bit worried.” 

Mentally shaking my head, I glanced up at him, smiled a little, and continued to work on hiding the bruise. “Everything was fine. Tony didn’t suspect a thing, which was great, but what I didn’t like was that he moved all my things out of a room I thought would be mine into another.” 

“He moved your things into another room?” He raised a brow, confused. “Why would he do that?” 

“He thought doing some…home improvement would help the place—without him tearing down the walls or anything in that nature.” 

“So just basically moving furniture around?” 

“Yes, and he gave me an even bigger room,” I nodded, and sighed when my hair fell into my face again. “Do you mind holding this?” I held out the pallet for him. When he took it, I reached into my bag again and pulled out a black elastic band, and tied my hair back. 

When I took everything back from him, Peter stared at my right hand and his forehead creased. “What happened there?” 

I pulled my sleeve over my hand again; mortified that he saw my knuckles and tried to play it off. “It’s nothing.” 

“No, no, no. Since I let you make a big deal about my bruises, then let me do the same thing,” he shook his head and smirked, lightly grabbing hold of my wrist, and gently pulled it away from his cheek to get a better look. Peter ran his thumb over the faint red over the pale skin there, and I couldn’t help the pounding of my heart against my ribcage when he did that. “What did you do? Or should I say how did it happen?” 

Trying to calm down the frantic beating of my heart, I shrugged. “Let’s just say I’m a…pretty clumsy person at night,” I lied, feeling my stomach clench for even doing that to Peter. I was good at lying for work, but outside in my personal life it would always make me feel terrible. 

“What did you do hit a wall while trying to flip the light switch?” he chuckled, letting go of my hand, and allowed me to finish up on his cheek. 

“Um…more like hitting the bedside table in my sleep. I had a dream that I was punching some jerk who was after me,” I shrugged, feeling even worse for saying that. However, I knew shouldn’t feel that way; I _did_ hit some jerk who was after me…just not in a dream. 

Peter laughed and I felt relieved that he bought it—I really hoped that I wouldn’t have to do that again later. I finished up on his cheek, tapping it with my finger to check if it did stay, and then went on to covering up his chin when I saw none rubbed off on my skin. It didn’t take that long to do, which I was glad for since class was about to start soon and I didn’t want to be late at all. It kind of felt strange doing this to Peter; whenever him or I talked, I’d catch him staring at me—almost like he was trying to figure something out. It still puzzled me that earlier he was nearly giving me the cold shoulder and now he was all chummy with me again. As much as I didn’t like it, I was just glad that he was fine and we were on friendly terms. 

“There, all finished,” I announced, pulling back, took out the elastic band from my hair, and began putting everything away. 

Peter looked in the mirror and nodded to himself. “You can’t really tell that I even had those bruises on my face.” He looked my way and smiled. “Thank you, Alison. I really appreciate it—even if I was reluctant at first.” 

“You’re welcome, Peter,” I smiled back and zipped up my bag. 

“Oh wait, here.” He stood up, taking off his jacket and then unzipped his sweatshirt underneath to reveal the dark gray shirt he had on. He held out his sweatshirt, offering it to me. “Put this on. That way you don’t get asked about your hand.” 

I stared at it, somewhat nervous about that. “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah. See, there’s holes right here for your thumbs to slip through—the sleeves will help out a lot.” Peter pointed to them and I nodded. “Put it on.” 

I bit my lip, still unsure. “I don’t know…” 

“I let you help me; now I think I should help you.” He stared at me with those brown eyes that I already had some difficulty with being focused. 

I nodded and took it, slipping it on—making sure to slip my thumbs where they needed to be—and zipped it up to where halfway up to my chest, completely covering the cardigan I had on. I gave him a small smile. “Thanks, Peter.” 

“You’re welcome,” he smiled back, slipped on his jacket, and picked up his backpack from the floor. 

The whole time he did that, I tried not to stare. Thanks to the jackets and sweatshirts he’d wear, I was never able to see the lean muscle that he had. I could faintly see them against his shirt, and I had to shake my head when he wasn’t looking to clear it. _He’s your friend, Alison. Don’t start thinking too much into Pepper’s ideas._  

When he looked my way, he inclined his head to the door. “Come on, let’s head to class.” 

Making sure that my head was clear, I nodded. “All right.” Picked up my own things and went over to the door. I unlocked it and we both slipped out—completely unnoticed by any of the students.

* * *

Time passed by rather quickly at school today; I went to all my classes and turned in everything to earn the credit I needed to help me with the classes I had—which is saying a lot with my math teacher who I had only known for two days, and I already want to scream. Normally I was fine with everything in school, but this guy was a serious nutcase. 

“I swear with the way Mr. Cooper is, I am so close to showing up to school in one of my dad’s Iron Man suits, and give him a piece of my mind,” I shook my head as I grabbed my math book and shoved it into my bag. 

“Well, you did call him out on that math error. That’s never happened before,” Peter commented, grabbing his skateboard, and closed his locker. 

“Yeah, it was just one error, and the man thought I was accusing him of murder,” I rolled my eyes and closed my own locker. “Now, thanks to him, he gave me—not everyone else—just _me_ , extra homework tonight because of it.” 

“It’s sadly his form of punishment on us,” he shrugged and began walking with me out of the building. 

“Then he’ll be surprised that I _did_ do everything and I’ll be more than happy to show him that I did everything without my calculator,” I shook my head and took in a deep breath. “Well, some of it anyway, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to switch the subject, and think of something pleasant before I decide to go off about Mr. Cooper.” 

“All right,” he chuckled, completely amused by this. “Are you still planning on taking your dog for a walk in Central Park? That is what you said a while ago in class, right?” 

“Yes! I am absolutely looking forward to that!” I grinned, and nearly felt myself skip. “That does seem like a good place to go for a walk with him, right?” 

“Oh yeah, you’re fine going there. Sometimes I’d see dog walkers with a bunch of dogs walking around there, but leashed.” 

“Oh, I’ll keep him leashed. He’s only four months old—still a little puppy.” 

He scoffed quietly and chuckled. “From the looks of that picture you showed me, he does not look little.” 

“I’m talking about age, not his sized,” I rolled my eyes playfully and giggled. “But he’ll always be my little puppy in my eyes.” 

“Do you baby him a lot?” he asked, glancing at me as soon as we were out of the building. 

“No, I don’t baby him a lot. Just around the time where he’s tired and after I train him,” I explained and realized something. “Oh, hold on.” I stopped walking and unzipped his sweatshirt he had given to me in the morning. When I had it off, I held it out for him. “Here. Thank you so much for lending it to me today. I’m glad that you did.” 

“You’re welcome.” He smiled that crooked/adorable smile I adored seeing and took it. “It’s the least I can do since you helped me.” He pointed to the concealed bruises on his face. 

“And you are welcome for that.” We kept walking until we reached the car, and I saw Pepper stand outside of it, waving at us. 

“Hi, guys,” she smiled when we got closer. 

“Hey, Pepper!” I greeted, hugging her and smiled. I pulled back and looked at her. “I thought you were at work?” 

“I was, but how you said you were going to take Charlie for a walk, I thought I’d bring him with me, and pick you up from school,” she explained, smiling and glanced at Peter. 

“Oh! That’s right, I never fully introduced you guys,” I laughed nervously and looked to Peter. “Peter, this is my dad’s girlfriend, Pepper Potts. And, Pepper, this is Peter Parker.” 

“Hi, Peter, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Pepper smiled, holding out her hand to shake Peter’s. 

“Hi, and you, too, Ms. Potts.” He shook her hand, smiling. 

“Oh, call me Pepper. I’m totally fine with you calling me that.” 

He nodded and then let go of her hand. “So how are you liking New York? I hope it’s not too different from L.A.” 

“I really love it here, and I’m sure Alison thinks the same,” she looked my way and continued after I nodded my affirmation, “And for the second part, it kind of is, but not really. I mean, we aren’t anywhere near the beach, but I think it seems really nice here. Especially some of the interesting things about this Spider-Man I hear so much about from everyone in the building.” 

“Oh, what do you hear about Spider-Man?” he asked, his tone casual, as it should to everyone else, but it had a faint curiosity to it, something I wasn’t sure that Pepper was able to detect. 

“It varies, actually. There are some good comments and bad ones, but everyone is wondering if Iron Man will ever ‘clash’ with Spider-Man,” she explained. “I know Alison was very curious about him when we first got here.” 

“Pepper!” I hissed, getting nervous about that. Peter didn’t need to know that. 

“Hey, don’t worry. I hear girls really go for the guy in red and blue spandex,” he commented, smirking my way, and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “But that would be interesting if Spider-Man ever met Iron Man…maybe it’ll make the news." 

I was about to say something on that until I realized something that Pepper had said earlier. “Wait, did you say that you have Charlie with you?” 

“Yes. He’s in the car right now.” Pepper glanced over to the end of the car. “He’s ready for you to take him for his walk. So, while you’re doing that, Happy is going to take me back to work and then he’ll drive back, and pick you two up so you can go home.” 

“Oh, I was kind of hoping I’d get to go back and change my shoes before I did that,” I said. 

“I already brought you a pair to put on. They’re in the car, in a bag, and in that bag you have the things you need so you can walk Charlie,” she explained, easing things for me. 

“I think I should be heading home. Get started on that homework Mr. Cooper assigned us,” he told me, grinning and chuckled when he saw my grimace. 

“Don’t remind me,” I groaned, just the idea of it was irritating me. 

“Would you like a ride?” Pepper asked Peter, causing him to look at her. “I’m sure you’ll get there faster with us.” 

“No thank you, it’s fine. I’ll catch the subway and also ride my skateboard, it doesn’t take that long,” Peter shook his head and smiled. “It was nice meeting you…Pepper.” 

“It was nice to finally meet the famous Peter Parker that Alison talks so much about,” she smiled, pulled Peter into a hug and winked at me over his shoulder—causing me to blush. 

“Pepper…” I was completely mortified right now, but I think I’d rather deal with this than an overprotective Tony if he ever showed up and met Peter. 

When Peter pulled away from Pepper’s embrace, he looked my way and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Alison.” 

“Okay. Bye, Peter,” I gave him a quick hug and pulled away, looking down at the concrete. 

Peter waved to Happy when he finally got out of the car, and hopped on his skateboard, riding it down the sidewalk; careful not to bump into anyone. 

“Have I ever told you how much I like him?” Pepper questioned, nudging me with her elbow, and then led me over to the car where Happy waited with the back passenger door open. 

“Oh, my God, Pepper, I can’t believe you did that!” I groaned, sliding into the car and got as comfortable as possible after Charlie took the middle portion of the backseat. 

She slid in and sat back after Happy closed the door. “What? I didn’t do anything bad.” 

“You told him about my ‘curiosity’ of Spider-Man. He had no idea I even knew of Spider-Man,” I hugged my bag close to me, hiding my face in it. 

“Alison, it’s fine that he knows. He’ll just…think you’re being a normal teenage girl because of it. He _did_ say that most of the girls like him.” Pepper rubbed my back, trying to comfort me. This was part of the very rare occasions where she was the one embarrassing me instead of Tony. 

I grumbled into my bag, trying to hide my face even more into it when I felt Charlie try to lick my face. 

“Are we still going to the park? I still have time to take her home instead,” Happy spoke up. I wasn’t even aware he got back in the car as well as when he began driving. 

“I think taking her home would—” 

“No! I want to go to Central Park. I need to walk Charlie.” I lifted my head up from my bag and looked to him. 

“To the park it is!” Happy drove on. 

I looked out the window and saw that we were already nowhere near the school. No matter how odd I found that, I was just glad to be away from it and tried to calm down. Charlie curled up as best as he could where he was and rested his head on my lap. 

Scratching behind his ears, I spoke up. “It’s fine that you told him, but I just _really_ hope that he doesn’t think I’m some crazy fan-girl over Spider-Man.” 

“I’m sure he won’t, you’re not really the type…unless you start talking about every interest you’ve had for any TV show, movie, book—anything really,” Pepper shrugged. “Then he’d see your ‘crazy’ interest in them.” 

“He doesn’t know much about that…yet,” I bit my lip, thinking about how that would be. “I mean there’s nothing bad with them; those are normal things people like, but he does know I love classic movies. That’s one thing we have in common—other than us both being pretty smart.” 

“I think that’s a good thing. Maybe your father would approve of this.” 

I rolled my eyes playfully, smiling. “You’d really love it if I started dating, huh?” 

“It never hurts to think about,” she said nonchalantly, giving me a small smile. “But I just want you to have fun and enjoy your time here as much as possible because things get very serious and dangerous with S.H.I.E.L.D. You should try to enjoy things before fully focusing your time with them.” 

I thought over what she said; Pepper really didn’t like it when I first told both her and Tony I was an agent, and she’d constantly worry about me because of it. I’d remember all the times she’d try to say something, but would get interrupted. Of course, I do believe she’s worrying for nothing, but sadly she has every right to do so. 

“I’ll consider it, but I still have things to focus on for both school and S.H.I.E.L.D. that I’d like to take care of first.” Even though I feel like the S.H.I.E.L.D. part might take over a bit. 

“All right, but make sure you keep that in mind.” She picked up a canvas bag that was next to her feet, and handed it to me. “Are you going out tonight?” 

“No, not tonight.” I took the bag and felt Charlie move off my lap. “I have homework and, thanks to last night, I’d like to stay in and relax.” 

“Rough night?” Happy asked. 

I hesitated and sighed. “You can say that.” 

“What happened?” Pepper asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.” 

Grimacing, I shook my head. “Let’s just say things didn’t really go the way I had planned.” I put my attention on slipping off my flats and began to pull on the socks and shoes Pepper had brought me. 

“And I’m guessing we can’t find out about that, right?” Happy asked, staying focused on the road, and was careful not to hit anyone outside. 

“Sorry, it’s information that I can only share with my boss,” I said, finishing up, and handed the bag back to Pepper. 

We all went silent for a while until Pepper broke it and, asked about how things were for me while I was at Peter’s house. I told her everything; I told her about the house, about Peter’s aunt, and what I knew about him. It made me smile knowing that Pepper truly liked Peter; it even made me wonder how well she and Peter’s aunt would get along if they met. As I began telling her more about Peter, she started pointing out the similarities Peter and I shared. Of course being quite smart and orphans aside, she’d say we both had our own nervous ticks—Peter’s being his hand rubbing at the back of his neck and mine was biting my lip—we both had strong mother figures in our lives, and she thought we were both adorable, which caused me to playfully roll my eyes. Even though Pepper will see me as a young adult, she still sometimes sees me as the eight-year-old that’d always bring injured animals home from the park, and constantly watch Disney during sick days. 

We kept talking until we reached the park. I didn’t want her to go back to work, but I knew she still had things to do. 

“Do you have everything you need?” 

“Yes.” I showed her my iPhone, the other things she brought me and lifted Charlie’s leash—already clipped to his collar. 

“Is your phone off silent?” she asked. 

“Yes, I took it off as soon as I was out of class,” I nodded. “I’ll be fine, Pepper.” 

“Okay.” She hugged me, kissing my head. “Take care of yourself, sweetie, and make sure you and Charlie are careful. Stark Tower isn’t that far—it’s about ten minutes away—and Happy will be back as soon as possible to pick you guys up.” 

“Okay,” I hugged her back and pulled away. “Come on, Charlie.” 

Happy opened the door and I got out with Charlie following me. I made sure to keep a good grip on the leash, commanding him to sit, and looked back to Happy and Pepper. 

“I’m going to call you when I’m two blocks away from here. Maybe that’ll give you some time to meet me back here,” Happy said, walking over to the driver’s side. 

“Got it. Bye,” I waved and watched him get in. I turned my attention back to Charlie. “Let’s go.” 

His tail wagged and we began making our way in. Central Park was very beautiful; it was full of trees and so much greenery that it makes one forget that it was part of a big city like New York. It almost made it seem like you were completely away from all the tall buildings and all the really loud noises…it was just great to be in. Charlie happily walked ahead of me, occasionally sniffing the ground to smell the new scents. I looked down to my hip; glancing at the camouflage doggy pick-up bag dispenser clipped to one of the belt loops I had there, and was glad to have it with me right now. Or more like glad Pepper that had brought for me—it would really help later after Charlie was finished. 

A couple of minutes pass and I looked at my phone, checking for when Happy would call to pick us up. It was a bit hard doing this, I wanted to keep looking around, but couldn’t since I need to head back home. Sighing, I walked over to a doggy drinking fountain, and made sure Charlie had some water. It even surprised me when I found out about these things while I was in the library today. The librarian, Mrs. Brooks, was very helpful with giving me plenty of information about it since she had two dogs herself and loved taking them for a walk here. 

I took in everything that I wasn’t really able to notice from last night thanks to being chased by those guys. Of course, the leaves on the trees were nearly all gone from the branches, a sign that it’s almost winter. This was something I rarely saw in Southern California; it was always bright and sunny—despite the very weird change in weather half of the time throughout the year—palm trees, and other things most people in other cities would envy us for. However, they had no idea how lucky they were to at least have _actual_ changes in seasons where they lived. 

Charlie’s barking caught my attention and I saw him bark at a squirrel a couple of feet away from us. Gently tugging the leash, I drew his attention away, and led him to an area where he could do his business. I waited a bit and then picked up after him. After I tossed the pick-up bag in a nearby trash bin, I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer and heard my phone go off. When I took it out, I answered Happy’s call, and was making my way back to where he had dropped me off. As I continued walking and talked on the phone for a bit, I got the feeling that I was being watched. Sure, I was in the park and people would look at me because they knew who I was or think they know, but this wasn’t that. This was the creepy, stalker-y being watched kind of feeling I was getting, and thanks to it, I was fully alert after I hung up with Happy. I picked up my pace and nearly broke into a jog with Charlie just so I could get back to the car faster. 

When I finally reached where Happy had dropped me off, I quickly but discreetly looked around where I was and surveyed the area—looking out for signs of anything out of the ordinary. I didn’t really see anything, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling away. Shaking my head, I shrugged it off and walked over to the car with Charlie, looking forward to going back to the building.

* * *

“Okay, let me get this straight: you guys are going to a dinner tonight and I’m _barely_ learning about this now?” 

“Well, that was the reason why we brought you pizza and ice cream to forgive us,” Dad said as he fixed his tie. When he had that finished, he shook his head, took off the tie, and slipped on his sports coat. 

“Dad, most parents tell their kids ahead of time when they make plans, not as soon as they get home,” I sighed, watching him finish up. “What is this dinner about, anyway?” 

“Just those normal charity dinners that I’m invited to a couple of times out of the month,” he answered, looking my way. “I’m seeing some people with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.” 

“So is it going to be with the people from the organization or with a kid?” I asked, curiously. 

“The people from there. In case you had forgotten, I do donate to them.” He walked over to a pair of watches and took two out, trying to decide which of the two to wear. It was always something he’d have some difficulty with. “Which one: the gold or the silver?” 

“The gold one looks better. It goes with what you’re wearing,” I said and knew it was true. My dad was wearing black slacks, a burgundy button-up shirt with the first three buttons open and a black sports coat. 

He looked at the watch, nodding to himself, and put it on his left wrist. “So, I trust there will be no S.H.I.E.L.D. agents over.” 

“Yes, Dad, I’m aware of that rule.” I tried my best not to roll my eyes and made it seem like I was preoccupied with my phone. 

“And no boys over, too,” he added, drawing my attention away from my phone. 

“Dad, I only have one friend at school that I trust, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to make it here if I asked,” I explained, putting my phone away in the pocket of my sweatpants, and got up from where I was sitting on his bed. 

“He’s a teenage boy. Teenage boys are bound to do something if asked by a pretty girl.” He fixed the collar on his shirt as he looked at me through the mirror. 

“Aww, you really think I’m pretty?” I batted my eyelashes and tried not to laugh at that. I never thought of myself as the fully attractive kind of girl thanks to all I did with S.H.I.E.L.D. I was too athletic and always preferred wearing jeans to skirts and dresses. 

“Of course, and if that Parker kid is just like any other teenaged boy, I’m sure he’ll come running over here if you called him over to hang out while Pepper and I are gone,” he explained, applying a bit of cologne, and I rolled my eyes at what he had said. 

“Tony, don’t be mean. If you ever meet Peter, you’ll see what a nice boy he is, and be glad that your daughter is friends with him,” Pepper said as she entered the room, coming to Peter’s defense. She looked my way and asked, “This dress is fine, right? I’m starting to change my mind on it.” 

I looked at her dress; a simple purple cocktail dress that hugged her frame perfectly, her red hair was done in soft waves, and the pale gold heels she was wearing went great with the dress. Nodding, I answered, “I think it looks great. You guys seem set to go.” 

“Will you be fine here by yourself? I feel so awful that we have to go to this and we didn’t tell you on time,” Pepper sighed, hugging me. “I knew we should have waited a bit more to do these things, Tony.” 

“Pepper, it’s fine. I mean, I _do_ think you guys did this too fast, but it’s fine. These things happen.” I pulled back from her embrace and looked at both of them. “I’m finished with my homework and I already took my shower that I take before I sleep. I’ll just stay up a bit more and then get ready for bed.” 

“Really? It’s only 7:30 P.M. on a Thursday night, and you’re going to sleep early? What kind of teenager are you?” Tony asked, causing me to roll my eyes. 

“I’m those abnormal ones that would rather stay in and sleep,” I smirked. “And I’m sure you guys will be back later.” 

“Yes, we’ll be back a little after midnight,” Pepper answered, glaring at Tony as he looked at his appearance in the mirror one last time. 

“Yeah, and it’s already time for us to head out.” Tony grabbed the last of his things and turned his attention to Pepper. “Do you have everything?” 

“Yes, I made sure not to forget a single thing,” Pepper answered, smiling. 

“Did you remember to put on deodorant? You know the last time you and I did something like this, and we started dancing, you said you forgot to put some on?” he teased, smirking at her. 

“Tony,” she sighed, shaking her head, and playfully hit his arm. “That is not funny.” 

“I thought it was a good one,” he shrugged and waited for us to exit the room. 

Pepper and I walked out of the room, and into the hall, waiting for him to follow us. Once he was out, we all walked downstairs, and reached the first floor of the penthouse. I saw Charlie off to the side in his playpen, playing with his plush raccoon that he loved to play with. 

“Rules: no boys, no loud music, and no boys,” Tony said, drawing my attention back to him just in time for Pepper to elbow his side. 

“I will agree with your father on the loud music part. We need to be mindful of our neighbors in the building,” Pepper commented and pulled me into a hug. “We’ll be back later, we’ll call you when we’re there, and don’t open the door to anyone.” 

I hugged her back, nodding. “Yes, I know.” 

She kissed my head, pulled back and moved my outgrown bangs out of my face. “Have a good night, my dear Alice.” 

I smiled, nodding. Even though I wasn’t too thrilled when Spider-Man called me that last night, it was completely different when those close to me did. Alice was the pet name my mother used to call me because our favorite story to read together was “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and my mother believed I was just like Alice. After she died, I always cried whenever I’d hear that name—I couldn’t even think or look at anything that was about “Alice in Wonderland.” It wasn’t until I turned ten that I began to trust my new family, and allowed them to call me by that name again. Of course, it isn’t really said as often, but it did feel great hearing that name again. However, when Spider-Man suggested calling me that, it didn’t sit so well. I just hoped that when I’d see him again, it wasn’t brought up. 

I looked over to Tony and gave him a weak smile. He walked over and hugged me, kissing the top of my head. “Goodnight, sweetheart.” 

“Bye, Dad,” I hugged him back and pulled back, looking at the both of them. “Have fun and don’t party too much.” 

“We won’t, and I’ll keep an eye on your father—making sure that he doesn’t spend too much time at the bar,” Pepper smiled at him and he shook his head. 

They walked over to the door, Tony opened the door for Pepper; she smiled at him, walked out, and he followed after her. He looked my way one last time, giving me a small smile and then closed the door, leaving me alone with Charlie. 

“Time to party,” I said with fake enthusiasm and made my way over to the kitchen. 

I looked around in the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of soda. I poured myself some into a glass, took a sip, and then put away the bottle back in the fridge. Going back over to the plate of my unfinished dinner, I picked it up—with a handful of napkins—went over to Charlie’s playpen, opened it, and walked upstairs with Charlie following behind. When we reached upstairs, I went straight to my room, and placed both my drink and dinner on my desk. I had another playpen to have Charlie in while I ate, and ushered him inside it; once he was in, I went to my personal bathroom and washed my hands. 

As I dried my hands, I heard Charlie barking and growling. I walked back out to my room and looked around, trying to find the source that was causing my dog to behave this way. When I found nothing, I went over, and calmed him down; I wasn’t sure what could have caused it, but I didn’t think too much on it. I went over to my desk, turned on the TV, and channel surfed—trying to find something good on tonight, and it seemed like even with all the channels we had, I still wasn’t able to find anything good to watch. I decided to just switch it to the Blu-ray Player and went back to watching _Game of Thrones_. It was starting to be a little not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. 

“Oh, well,” I shrugged; went back to eating my dinner, the pizza Tony and Pepper brought me, and watched TV. 

I wiped my hands with a napkin and looked over at Charlie, seeing that he was just staring at the television screen. It was weird how much he paid attention to that and I’d often wonder what could go on in his head whenever he’d focus so much on these shows. After a while, I finished my food, downed my soda and then ran downstairs to put both the plate and glass in the sink. I washed my hands again and raced back up the stairs, rushing right into my room. I saw Charlie still staring at the television, not even noticing I was gone, and turned to walk back to my desk until I saw a shadowy figure stand outside on the balcony. I screamed, pulled out my Taser gun that I had under my desk until that figure moved closer into the light, and I saw that it was none other than Spider-Man standing out there. 

“What the fu…” I groaned, placed my gun on my desk, went over to the oversized window—it appeared more like a glass door—and ignored my dog’s barking. I opened it and glared at him. “What are you doing here?” 

“I just thought I’d drop by and see how you were doing,” he shrugged, looking over my shoulder, and saw Charlie still barking at him. “Nice guard dog.” 

“He comes in handy when masked men try to come visit me in my room at night,” I quipped, smirking, and still had my glare intact. “How did you know where my room was?” 

“I guessed and looked around to find what seemed the most obvious looking room a teenage girl would have,” he said nonchalantly and I was able to hear a smirk in his voice. 

I dropped my own smirk, really not enjoying that he pretty much looked around the building to find me. _Can you say stalker?_ “So, why are you here?” 

“I already told you, I came by to see how you were doing after last night.” He stared at me, those glassy yellow eyes just making it impossible for me to look away. “Can I come in?” 

Charlie was still barking at him, I glanced his way, and looked back to Spider-Man. “I’m not sure if Charlie would like that.” 

Spider-Man looked over my shoulder at Charlie again and looked back to me. “I’m sure he’ll be fine once I’m in; let him smell me and he’ll become familiar with my scent.” 

I stared at him, thinking about that, and shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.” I moved back and let him enter my room, thinking to myself that I’ve already broken one of Tony’s rules for tonight. _At least JARVIS is off and won’t rat me out._  

Spider-Man entered and looked at Charlie, who was growling and tense. He raised his hands, and slowly walked over to my dog. Charlie was still growling, but when Spider-Man got closer, he sniffed near his foot, and the hair along his scruff slowly went down. I gaped; I knew Charlie was never aggressive toward other people, but I didn’t think when it came to someone who was masked would calm down my dog this quickly. 

“There, that’s a good dog,” Spider-Man nodded, petting Charlie, and he wagged his tail from the attention. “This is one scary guard dog you have here, Alison.” 

“Thanks,” I muttered, closing the window, and made sure to pull the curtains over to cover up the view of my room. I looked back at the two of them, seeing Charlie stare up happily at Spider-Man as he scratched his head. 

Scratching Charlie’s head one last time, Spider-Man stood up, glanced at the TV, and looked my way. “You know, I never really pictured Iron Man as a dog person.” 

“Charlie’s mine, but I like to see him as the family dog.” I went over to my desk, picked up the remote to the player, and stopped my show. I folded my arms and stared at him. “So after declining my boss’s offer to join the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., you thought it was fine to come and check up on me?” 

“Well, you _were_ chased after by some creeps last night, and I wanted to see how you were doing after that.” He stared at me and I found it strange that he’d stare at me so intently—almost as if trying to figure something out. “I wanted to see if you were in shock or hurt from last night.” 

“I’m fine,” I answered, glad that I had worn a baseball tee tonight rather than a short-sleeved shirt on. “I know how to handle myself against guys like them.” 

He nodded and sat down on my bed. “And does your dad know about you? You know, being an agent and all that.” 

“Of course he does. As soon as my boss started showing up, my dad found out that I was an agent,” I said, watching him. “And I was even there with them during all the stuff that happened here last spring.” 

“Wait you were there…?” He trailed off, tilting his head to the side and raised his hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner. “You _were_ there! The way you were dressed yesterday is exactly how you were during that attack from those creatures in the spring. Someone even took video of you guys fighting and uploaded it on the Internet.” 

“Yes, and I was glad that no one was clever enough to figure it out that it was me…until now,” I sighed and then shook my head. “Okay, look: this really shouldn’t be about me right now. I should be the one asking _you_ questions because of how things went last night.” 

Spider-Man sighed, “Why is it such a big deal for me to join your group? Everyone sees me as this punk vigilante that managed to stop the Lizard, but couldn’t save the former Captain of the New York Police Department. Why is your boss so interested in me?” 

What he said caught me off guard. It seemed like what had happened with Dr. Connors really did something to him, and seemed like whatever happened with the former NYPD Captain affected him a lot, too. “Honestly, I’m not sure, but whatever the reason, he wants you. In my opinion, it probably has something to do with Dr. Connors because Director Fury was showing me some stuff about him.” 

He tilted his head to the side, as if confused by this. “Dr. Connors? I thought he was in prison?” 

“I’m pretty sure he is, but Fury seemed worried about something,” I shrugged, unfolding my arms, and sighed. “Listen, I haven’t talked to him today, and I’m not sure why he wants you to join so bad. If anything, he’ll call me tomorrow and ask about this. When I tell him that I couldn’t get you to join, he’ll have my head, and have someone help me or take me off this.” 

“And, what, is this your first time doing this?” When I didn’t respond, he got his answer. “Oh, man. This _is_ your first time.” 

“Hey, this isn’t really my first time getting an assignment,” I countered, getting defensive and thought about how to word it. “It’s…my first time doing this alone.” 

“Doing an assignment alone? Did you always have someone with you?” 

“Yes. Normally, I’d work with one of my mentors, but he was killed last spring trying to stop a crazy Asgardian from escaping.” I took in a deep breath, and sat down on the chair by my desk, staring at the floor. “I was going to follow after him, but instead, I went to help my dad and Captain America.” 

“What about your other mentor? Is he okay?” Spider-Man asked; causing me to look up at him and—even with a mask covering his face—I saw that he was conflicted. Just the way his hands clenched and unclenched, I could tell he was struggling with something. 

“ _She_ is okay, but…” I trailed off, thinking about how to word this. “Let’s just say that it’s difficult working with a trained and highly skilled assassin during missions.” 

“Your other mentor’s an assassin?” he asked, shooting up from the bed so fast that if I had blinked I would have missed it. “Wait, so does that mean you’re pretty much licensed to kill?” 

“I guess, but I wouldn’t really do it unless I have to. It’s something I learned from her…and Coulson.” I tried not to seem amused by this. I freaked out Spider-Man with just a brief description of my other mentor, and he hasn’t even met her, and I am really hoping that doesn’t happen. 

“So let me get this straight: your other mentor, the high skilled assassin, might help you on this if I don’t agree to it? Are you threatening me with that?” 

“Nope, I’m just telling you about her, and she doesn’t kill for the fun it.” I stood up, and stared up at Spider-Man without losing focus because of those eyes. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be here alone, and finish my TV show so I can go to sleep. I may be an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. but I’m still in high school.” 

“Why would you still be in high school if you’re already working for spies?” He questioned, folding his arms across his chest; if there wasn’t a mask covering his face, I could have sworn one of his brows were raised. 

“Just because I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. it doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t have somewhat of a normal life…let’s call it a secret identity,” I suggested, lifting one shoulder in the form of a shrug. “I’m sure you’re perfectly familiar with that.” 

“Don’t tell me an agent like you doesn’t know who I am under this?” He seemed skeptical of this and unfolded his arms, which surprised me a bit. 

“I really don’t know who you are under that mask,” I said honestly, shaking my head, and folded my arms this time. “If I did, I would have called you by your actual name as soon as we were alone yesterday.” 

Spider-Man remained silent for a second, possibly thinking over my statement and nodded. “All right. I see your point, but I’m sure you’ll figure out eventually, right?” 

“Yes.” I got an idea and unfolded my arms. “But if you’re willing to tell me who you are now…” I raised one of my hands to the end of his mask, trying to make a move to lift it. 

His hand—gently, but firmly—grabbed my wrist, stopping me, and shook his head. “No, not gonna happen. At least not right now. How about I make a little deal with you.” 

“What kind of deal?” I asked, moving my hand back to my side after he had let go, and watched him carefully. 

“How about I think over what you said about this…teaming up with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, after you give me more information about why it’s so important for your boss to have me join?” 

I thought about it and it seemed like a good idea. I get more information about this, and it gets me closer to closing this deal with Spider-Man to join. “All right, I’ll agree to that, and once I get that information from Fury, you’ll join?” 

“If I’m joining for a good cause—meaning saving either the city or the world from anything bad…then yes.” 

I tried not to show the excitement in my voice or face and left my face in a calm mask as best as I could. “Perfect; it’s a deal.” I held out my hand to him. 

Spider-Man grasped my hand, the same way he grabbed my wrist, in his gloved one and shook them—closing the deal. We let go and just stood still, staring at each other, but for some weird reason a small part of me felt like the way he grabbed both my hand and wrist seemed familiar. I wasn’t sure why that was; there really shouldn’t be any familiarity between us at all, but it seemed to be that way right now. Mentally shaking my head, I decided not to dwell on that, and focused on Spider-Man. 

“I should go. I’m still on duty,” he said, looking toward the window. “I’ll leave you to your _Game of Thrones_ , and let you get ready for bed.” He looked my way again and caught my surprised expression as to how he knew what I was watching. “Goodnight, Alison.” 

“Bye.” I watched him walk over to the window, opened it, and then jumped off my balcony—already using his webbing to swing away from my building. I walked over to the window and locked it, already feeling my mood lighten up thanks to that little encounter with Spider-Man. It seemed like this might just be easy after all.


	6. Enter the Babysitters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I meant to post this last month but a lot of stuff got in the way but here it is and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as you liked the previous one.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

“I’m telling you, Director, it’s really not that simple to get him to join us. After my two encounters with him, he really doesn’t seem too convinced to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.”

“Every man has a price, Agent Stark. What did you say to him to at least consider joining?”

I tried not to bite my lip. It was two days after I made my deal with Spider-Man, and Fury was already getting impatient. He wanted and needed to know what had happened, and I was nervous to even say anything. “I didn’t really say anything to him, but he wants to know why you want him to join so bad. He wants to see if there’s a specific reason as to why you want him.”

“A specific reason?” He repeated, his unpatched eye narrowing slightly. “Why would there be a specific reason for me to ask him to join?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, but he feels like there should be one if you want him so badly.” 

He sighed, shaking his head, and stood up from his seat. “Did you say anything to him? Gave him something to go with?” 

“All I said was there might be a possibility of Dr. Connors doing something, but that was it, and that did seem to spark some interest for him.” I thought back to when he visited me in my room; something I never thought would happen, and was glad Tony didn’t find out when he and Pepper got back home. As I thought back, I started to remember something that Spider-Man had said, something about the former Captain of the NYPD, and it had something to do with Connors. “Director, do you know anything about the former Captain of the New York Police Department? When I was speaking with Spider-Man, he said something about the Captain and I’ve been curious ever since.” 

“What did he say?” 

“He said something about the Captain being related to the rampage Dr. Connors did as that giant lizard,” I said. 

He stared at me curiously, as if he wasn’t sure what to make of what I was saying. “Well, I’m not sure how much it’ll help, but the former Captain of the New York Police Department was killed by Dr. Connors.” 

I blinked, my brows knitting together. “Dr. Connors _killed_ him?” 

“Yes, and it was not a good way for anyone to die.” He was near a computer, typed in something that caused the lights to turn off, and an image appeared before me. “Captain George Stacy died not long ago and Dr. Connors, as that overgrown lizard, killed him by stabbing him through the chest with his razor sharp claws.” 

I tried not to shudder or grimace at the thought; that was so awful. I stared at the image; Captain Stacy appeared to have been a middle-aged man with dirty blond hair, and blue eyes. He looked like someone that really worked hard for his job and for others…it kind of reminded me of my father. 

“We also got word that someone else was there as well,” Director Fury said, drawing me away from my thoughts. 

“Spider-Man.” It started to make sense now, but what seemed strange was that a police officer was actually helping Spider-Man. From what I had heard, the police weren’t too please with him. 

He nodded. “It was a sad time in George Stacy’s family and the NYPD.” He tapped a key and another image appeared, this time of a girl around my age with blonde hair, and blue eyes—the same ones Captain Stacy had. “This is his daughter, Gwen. She used to intern for Connors at Oscorp and, well, let’s just say that it was hard for her to come to terms that a man she saw as a mentor kill her father.” 

I nodded, staring at the image. Gwen Stacy didn’t really appear the type to intern at a place like Oscorp, but I shouldn’t really judge a book by its cover. Sure, she appeared to be the pretty blonde girl that’d catch everyone’s attention, but could also be smart. I was beginning to wonder what happened to her. 

“Although,” Director Fury began, drawing my attention back to him. “And I’m not a man that believes in coincidences, it seems interesting to bring up that Gwen Stacy went to your school.” 

My eyebrows rose, surprised by this new information. “She went to Midtown Science? What happened to her?” 

He tapped another key and another image of Gwen appeared before me. Once it was up, Director Fury spoke up. “Her mother had her switch schools after Dr. Connors showed up and nearly destroyed Midtown Science during his giant lizard rampage. I’m sure you’re able to see some of the damage that was done.” 

“Yes. A couple of hallways are still closed off and some students have to take detour routes to get to their classes.” I glanced his way and looked back at the image. “My dad donated money to the school to help with the repairs.” 

“How generous of him.” His comment was laced with sarcasm. 

I had to bite my tongue to prevent saying something rude to him. Staring at the image again, I saw something that immediately caught my attention; further away from Gwen, I saw familiar looking disheveled brown hair on a boy holding a camera to his face, and with a skateboard attached to his backpack. 

“Peter?” 

“What was that, Stark?” Director Fury asked, one eye squinting at me. 

I mentally cursed, wanting to slap myself for saying anything out loud. “It’s nothing, Director.” 

“It didn’t seem like nothing.” He stared at me, causing me to nearly shift uncomfortably in my seat. “You said something after looking at this picture. What was it?” 

I sighed quietly and said, “I said a name. Peter. From the looks of this image, someone I know is in it.” 

He looked at the image again, tapped a couple of keys, and the image changed to where I saw Peter in perfect view. “You know this kid?” 

“Yes. He’s a friend of mine from school.” And I really hoped that he would not get involved in this assignment in any way or form at all. 

Fury stared at the image, I could practically see the gears turning in his head, and knew he was planning something. He sighed and shook his head. “Well, I was thinking you should keep an eye on him, but I doubt that this kid has anything to do with Spider-Man, so that idea’s out.” I tried my best not to look so relieved; glad that I wouldn’t put Peter through anything like this. “But, I do have an idea to help get this going much faster.” 

“What is it?” 

“As much as I feel like you could’ve handled this on your own, I’m dismissing that decision, and bringing in two agents to help you out on this,” he paused and smirked a bit, an expression I wasn’t entirely used to seeing. “And I feel like bringing in these specific agents, two people that you have worked with quite a bit, will definitely help you stay focused on this.” 

“Two agents? Who are you…” I stopped, thought about it, and felt my eyes widen. Already having an idea as to whom he could be referring to. I quickly shot up out of my seat and pleaded, “Oh, no, Director Fury, you can’t possibly consider having me work with those two?! Sure, I get along great with them, I already know that, but I really don’t think—” 

“I’ve already made my mind up on this, Agent Stark.” He moved a hand to his earpiece and muttered, “You’re clear to enter.” Fury hit a few keys on the keyboard; the image disappeared, and the lights turned on in the conference room. 

I was trying to speak again, trying to make my point across that I was fine working alone, but fail miserably once Fury looked my way. The sound of the door sliding open caused me to tense, and I heard a voice that I hadn’t heard in a while. “Looks like she already got the news.” 

“Good to see you again, Alison,” said the other voice. 

“Agent Stark, I’d like to reintroduce you to your partners on this assignment: Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton.” 

I turned around and looked at them. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, better known by their codenames Black Widow and Hawkeye. These two are the top agents and assassins that the agency would call for the pretty tough jobs. Agent Romanoff’s a petite redheaded Russian-born woman, standing around my height, with green eyes, and could pull out a gun to a person faster than anyone could blink. Agent Barton’s a man standing about five inches taller than me, light brown hair, blue eyes, and was very skilled with a bow and arrow. Natasha was my other mentor; both she and Phil trained, and prepared me to handle everything that went on with this job ever since Fury recruited me to become an agent. And thanks to them, I was able to keep everything about this agency a secret and that also meant keeping my mouth shut around Tony and Pepper in the beginning. I hadn’t really worked alone with both Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton much—only very few jobs here and there—but I believed we did pretty great. We seemed great during the invasion. 

“Hey, guys,” I greeted quietly, glancing down at my boots, and looked at them again. 

“Don’t tell me you’re not happy to see us?” Clint questioned, causing Natasha to smirk slightly. 

“Whether she’s happy or not, she shouldn’t complain about this,” Director Fury said, giving me even more of a stern look than he normally does. 

I remained silent and folded my armed to keep myself from saying anything. 

“So, what do we do?” Natasha asked, looking to Fury. 

“Firstly, I need you two to keep an eye on Agent Stark. I want you to make sure she doesn’t do anything to possibly stray from this,” he answered. 

“Wait, I do not need babysitters!” My eyes widened, surprised that this was actually the reason Fury was bringing in these guys. 

“It’s only for certain things, Stark. It seems like you need as much help as you can get for this and Agents Romanoff and Barton will help with that.” His unpatched eye stared at me, making his point clear. “I know you could have handled this on your own, but I feel like a little backup will help it go faster.” 

I stared at him, glancing over at the other agents for a brief moment. “And have they been debriefed about this?” 

“Of course they have. They know about this except for the new information you just told me,” he said, looking to them. “I trust you will learn about this when you all leave here?” 

“Yes, sir,” Clint answered, with Natasha nodding in agreement. 

“Good. Now, you three are dismissed,” Director Fury said. “And, Barton, if you or Agent Romanoff have any questions about this, talk to Agent Stark.” 

“Yes, sir,” Clint nodded, glancing to Natasha and me. 

“Agent Stark, do you have anything to say about this?” 

“Is this still need-to-know? Or should any other members of the Avengers know about this?” It was weird that Fury decided to have Natasha and Clint in on this; if they could know, then surely the others should know about it as well. 

“To everyone else, it’s need-to-know. For the team, they can know if they ask.” I was still having second thoughts about this, but if it was okay to tell them, then that was fine by me, now I was able to tell Tony about it if he ever asked. “Anything else?” 

_Other than you assigning these two to be my babysitters and make sure I don’t screw it up?_ “No, sir.” 

He stared at me one last time and then gave a curt nod, officially dismissing us. 

I walked out of the conference room first, hearing Natasha and Clint follow after me. When the door slid closed, we all began walking down the hallway, and I asked, “When did Director Fury decide to bring you guys in on this?” 

“After you didn’t follow up with him,” Clint answered, coming up to my left while Natasha stood on my right, both keeping at a good pace with me. 

“Well, it’s not easy to do with the life I live,” I muttered. 

“Even with the life you live, you should follow up with him,” Natasha said, her voice calm and soft as always. 

“Yeah, I’m aware of that.” We continued walking until we reached the elevators. I hit the down button and waited for the doors to open. 

“So, I’m guessing from asking that to Director Fury, Stark doesn’t know anything about this?” Clint mused, gesturing for Natasha and I to enter the elevator first. 

“Not yet he doesn’t.” I watched him hit the button for the lobby. “But if I know Tony, like I do know him, he’s probably using JARVIS to figure this out.” 

“Gotta admit that Stark is one sneaky, clever bastard,” he commented, causing me to give him a dirty look. “What? You know it’s true.” 

“That’s still my father you’re talking about, Barton.” I kept my glare intact as I folded my arms, and turned my attention to watch the numbers count back. 

“I was only saying—” 

“All right, kids. That’s enough,” Natasha sighed, raising her hands to stop the both of us from even continuing. “We have more important things to do.” 

“Right.” I heard the elevator sound off and walked out, the other two agents following after me. We were in the lobby of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters in Manhattan, a building I’m not all that used to being in since I was only used to being on the Helicarrier. I looked to them and asked, “How will this be done? You guys _do_ know about this, right?” 

“Of course we do,” Natasha answered. “Director Fury even said that he informed us all about this.” 

“Whether you liked it or not,” Clint chimed in, continuing off of where Natasha had already begun. “Besides, kid, the only thing you should know about this is that we’ll always be around and watching.” 

And, sadly, I knew how true that was. Whenever Clint or Natasha were on missions and had to keep an eye on someone, they were very good at their job. Whether they were assigned to watch or kill someone, they’d watch that person like a hawk (no pun intended to Clint).

* * *

**Two Days Later**  

“ _Miss Stark, I’m afraid that you did not set your alarm this morning, and I believe you will be late for school._ ” 

I grumbled, wondering why JARVIS would even be in my dreams and tell me that. I turned to where I was lying on my stomach and buried my face in my pillow. “My alarm is on and I’m waiting for it to go off.” 

“ _Miss Stark, you didn’t really_ —” 

“JARVIS, it’ll go off any minute,” I groaned, keeping my eyes shut, and didn’t lift my head up. “Just give it some time.” 

“ _But it’s already 7:05 A.M._ ” 

“What?!” I sat up so quickly that everything was blurrier than usual when I didn’t wear my glasses. I picked up my phone and saw that JARVIS was right. “Crap!” 

Slipping on my glasses, I got up, grabbed whatever clothes I could find, and quickly dressed—nearly falling flat on my face in the process. I slipped a pair of converse on, ran to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. When I was finished; I placed in my contact lenses, smudged on some eyeliner and applied my mascara, almost poking my eye with the liner. I grabbed whatever I’d need for school today, and slipped on a black hoodie I took from Tony a while ago. I looked around and didn’t see any sign of Charlie. 

“JARVIS, where’s Charlie?” 

“ _Ms. Potts has already taken the dog for the day, Miss Stark_.” 

“Okay,” I sighed in relief and grew anxious. “When did she leave?” 

“ _She left with Mr. Hogan ten minutes ago_.” 

“Oh, no,” I groaned and leaned against a wall. “What am I going to do? I’m going to be late; I don’t know how to take the subway, and I doubt I could hail a cab by myself.” 

“ _Perhaps your father could assist with that?_ ” 

I thought about it and wondered what he could mean by that. There’s no way that JARVIS would suggest that I’d ask Tony to drop me off (or maybe JARVIS meant get the taxi cab?) especially since he didn’t have car…oh, wait a minute. 

“Not a bad idea,” I mused, biting my lip. “Let’s see if he’ll agree to it, and if he’s up.” 

I walked out of my room, down the hall to his room, and knocked softly on his door when I reached it. I knocked again, still not hearing anything and then decided to carefully open the door. When I looked inside, I didn’t see any sign of him in there, and decided to check downstairs. Once I reached downstairs, I looked around for him in the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room, and still didn’t see him. 

Groaning, I called, “Dad! Are you up? I overslept and I need a lift to school!” When there was no response, I called to JARVIS. “Okay, JARVIS, where is he?” 

“ _Your father is in the room you previously had, Miss Stark._ ” 

“Great…” I muttered and made my way over to it, where I was able to hear the muffled music that he’d always play. When I was close enough, I opened the door and saw him sitting near a table, and looking over something on a tablet. “Dad?” 

“Yeah?” he responded, glancing up a bit. “JARVIS, shut off my playlist for now. We’ll try later to see if I’ll get the temporary soundproofing feature up and working.” 

“ _I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, sir,_ ” JARVIS replied, turning down the music in the room, and I was actually able to hear the TV on the other side of the room. 

“All right, what’s up?” He turned his attention to me, shutting off the tablet, and took a sip from his green protein juice. 

“Let’s see: I just woke up and I’m going to be late for school because Happy left with Pepper.” I really didn’t want to be late for school, it was kind of a pet peeve of mine, and I was running out of time. “I really need a lift to school.” 

“And how can I help with that? I don’t have a car here,” he shrugged and drank more of his juice. “I mean I could pitch in for a cab, but—” 

“I need you to take me there with your Iron Man suit!” I begged. “That is the only thing we have here, and I’m completely okay with that. Please, Dad, I need your help to get me to school.” 

“Fine, I’ll take you there with the suit,” he sighed and I was utterly relieved. “I don’t see why it’s so important for you to be there. Most kids your age _hate_ being at school, and would never pass up the opportunity to skip a day.” 

“I’m still new there. I can’t just miss any days of school.” 

He tried not to roll his eyes as he got up from his spot and downed the rest of his juice. When he was finished, he said, “I still think it never hurts to have a day off, but that’s just me. Anyway, JARVIS, I need the Mark 10 ready for a quick trip to Midtown Science.” 

“ _Sir, I’m not sure if the Mark 10 is fully ready to be in use._ ” 

“Well, just skip the fuzzy interior, I need it to get going.” He pulled open one of the drawers at the table; taking out what appeared to be two metal wrist cuffs from the inside, and put them on. He looked my way and caught me staring. “What?” 

“That’s almost the same as how you had it for the Mark 7,” I commented. “And what happened to Marks 8 and 9?” Walking out of the room, I made my way to the kitchen to take something to eat after he’d drop me off. 

“I have those models made, but saving them for some more modifications.” I heard him say as he followed after me. “And what are you doing?” Tony asked, this time his voice was much closer to my location, hearing the noise I was making. “I thought you were in such a hurry to get to school?” 

“I am, but since I woke up late I need to get a granola bar, a banana, and a juice because I don’t have time for a proper breakfast,” I said, grabbing just those items, and two fruit snacks to share with Peter later during lunch. 

“Right…” he drawled, walking out of the kitchen, and went to the living room where I heard him say, “You know, you really shouldn’t eat just yet before I take you. Don’t want you to puke all over the suit.” 

“That was the plan anyway, Tony,” I muttered quietly, rolling my eyes as I put everything in my bag, along with napkins, and followed after him. When I entered the living room, I saw him stand near the door, and fiddled with one of the wrist cuffs. He looked up, saw me, and hit one more button. 

“I’m ready.” I really hoped this was the best idea, I’d been with him before, and flew with him when he wore the suit—already having the knowledge that I’d be completely safe no matter what with him—but I couldn’t help the worry that was building up inside. And that wasn’t just for the trip to the school; it was mostly for _after_ , as in when we get there, and a possible mob of people being there because Iron Man was making an appearance. 

“Let’s go. I already signaled for the suit to get here and we only have a few minutes until it arrives,” he said, opening the door for me to exit. 

I nodded; thinking over something, then ran over to one of the few boxes we still hadn’t unpacked, and yanked it open. 

“What are you doing now? The suit will be here any minute.” 

“I’m moving all my stuff from the bag I currently have into a backpack.” I pulled it out of the box, and stuffed everything in there—not caring how disorganized it was. When I moved everything around and zipped it up, slipping my arms through the straps right after. “Let’s go!” 

“Finally!” We both walked out of the living room to the hallway of the almost top floor, with Tony closing the door right after he was out, and we heard a faint beeping sound. 

“What is that?” I asked, looking around to find the source of the sound. Looking back to him, I looked down to his hands, and realized it was coming from the cuffs. 

“That,” he began, sighing, “would be the alert feature I made to let me know how close the suit is.” 

“How close is it exactly?” The sound was faint at first, but paying closer attention, I was able to hear it increase. 

He lifted his wrist, looked it over, and looked my way. “Five blocks away.”

I didn’t think about it anymore and just made a run for it to the door that led up to the roof. I heard Tony call after me and followed the same direction I went. We ran up the two flights of stairs until we reached the door. I opened it and ran out, seeing the sun slowly peeking over the other buildings in the city. Looking around, I tried searching for which direction the Stark Tower would be, and saw something that appeared to be a red and gold gas tank fly our way. Turning back to where Tony was, I was going to let him know about it until the object flew right past me and opened up—expanding to be the Iron Man armor. I moved my hair out of my face, and saw the armor latch onto Tony’s body, covering every inch of him in red and gold. 

It had been a while since the last time I saw Tony don the Iron Man suit. I knew for a while he’d been busy trying to create a few suits since he resigned from his position as CEO of Stark Industries, but I had no idea how much time he had on his hands. The suit was pretty much the same as the Mark 7 except this one had the triangle shape where the arch reactor is on Tony’s chest as opposed to the circle—seemed like Tony liked to switch between the two. As I stared up at my father, now in the armor, I was starting to get the feeling that this might have been a bad idea. 

“I know that look, don’t give me that look, Alison,” he said, shaking his head. “You suggested this in the first place.” 

“I know I did,” I groaned and sighed. “Well, I guess it’s better that I get there with you like this than as a drunken mess.” 

“If I ever showed up to your school drunk, both the media and Pepper will be on my ass about it.” 

“Pepper’ll be worse than the media,” I commented, walking over to him. 

“Don’t I know it,” he muttered. “Come on, short-stuff. I gotta take you now.” 

“I’m not _that_ short.” I stuck my tongue out at him defiantly, he knew poking fun at my height was always a something I disliked the most. 

When I reached him, I tightened the straps to my backpack, tied the ends around my upper abdomen, and wrapped my arms securely around my father’s neck. The light from his chest glowed softly, and it was almost soothing to have. I still could hear a little voice in the back of my head telling me that this wasn’t the best idea of getting to school, but I had no other options. It was either this or stay home with Tony all day. “Don’t let me fall, Dad.” 

“You’ll be fine,” he reassured me, lifting the faceplate up so I could see his face, and brought it back down. “JARVIS, how much time do we have?” 

“ _You have twelve minutes until the first bell rings at 7:50 A.M., sir_.” I heard JARVIS faintly say from inside Tony’s helmet. 

“We’ll make it in six.” 

Before I could even say anything else, Tony already shot up into the air, and began making his way to the school. I held on tighter, tightening my grip around his neck, wrapping my legs around the metallic torso as best as I could, and was glad that he was wearing the armor for fear of choking him. I clenched my eyes shut and hoped that I wouldn’t lose my grip on him. At least with this “flying through New York” experience I wasn’t swung around with someone with spider-like powers. In an attempt to keep my mind from what was happening, I thought back to my meeting a few days ago at S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint and Natasha were being a part of this job as my babysitters and I actually believed that I could have done all of this myself. Why the heck would Fury do this? Was it because I was a little late with letting him know that I had spoken with Spider-Man? When Phil was still alive, he’d usually wait a while until letting Director Fury know what happened on a mission, and Fury never dropped any sitters on him. It didn’t seem fair to have them “keep an eye” on me while I was working. Luckily, I had school most of the time, and wouldn’t have to worry about them dropping in whenever they felt like it. _Thank you, school._  

“How much time we got, JARVIS?” 

“ _At the speed you’re going, sir, you should be at the high school in no less than two minutes._ ” 

“Not bad timing,” he said, and started to pick up the pace. 

Tony continued to fly through the city, flying by one of the handful of billboards that were promoting the local newspaper/news program the Daily Bugle, and from down on the ground I was able to hear some taxicabs honking. It kind of made me wonder if they were honking at each other or other people like I’d normally hear them, or were they just doing that because Iron Man was flying around the city? Hearing what sounded like faint cheering, no doubt for Iron Man, I carefully opened my eyes, and saw Tony focused on the flight. He maneuvered us between and around the buildings as carefully, but quickly as possible, and I was relieved that he wasn’t acting cocky about it at all. _Last thing I need is another over confident superhero taking me somewhere through New York._  

After I counted off a minute, I asked, “Are we there yet?” 

“Now we are,” he said, starting to slow down, and was preparing to land on the school grounds. 

Once we landed, with Tony firmly planted on the ground, I let go of him, and placed my feet on the soft grass. I smiled and started combing my fingers through my hair to smooth it down. “Thanks for the lift, Dad.” 

“Yeah, well, the next time you forget to set your alarm, make sure to have JARVIS set up a second one for you,” he said, his voice trying to sound stern and fatherly, but sighed when he saw me biting my lip. “And…you’re welcome.” 

Letting go of my lip, I smiled again and was about to say bye to him until I heard a voice call out to me. 

“Alison!” 

I tensed and grew nervous. _No!_ Slowly turning around, I saw Peter make his way over to where we were, and I wanted nothing more than to hide. I couldn’t let them meet each other right now. As soon as Tony finds out that this was Peter Parker, the only friend I had at school, who was also a _boy_ , he’ll be in full on protective father mode and possibly threaten Peter with that armor. _Where’s Pepper when you need her?_  

I gave him a weak smile and wave, feeling my stomach knot up even more thanks to how nervous I was. 

“Who is that?” Tony asked, looking over the same direction I was. 

“Um…” I trailed off, biting my lip, and thought it over. Should I really let this happen? I looked around, seeing that some of the students that were still outside were looking our way, and knew that we would start drawing a crowd. I looked back to him and saw that he lifted the faceplate up. “Uh, well…” 

“Alison! Hey, I was wondering when you’d get here. I didn’t see you at the lockers and was about to text you…” he trailed off and looked over to where Tony was, getting nervous. He let out a weak laugh and looked back at me. 

“Right. Ugh…” I cleared my throat and shifted uncomfortably. “Um, Peter, this is my father, Tony Stark. And, Dad, this is Peter Parker. He’s my friend.” 

“I-it’s nice to meet you, sir. Um, Mr. Stark,” Peter stuttered, smiling nervously and held out his hand to Tony. 

Tony stared at him, brow raised and glance down at Peter’s hand. He took Peter’s hand in his metallic one, giving a small shake, and let go. I let out a small sigh of relief, pleased that Tony was careful with his armor around Peter, and looked my way. “So, this is the Parker kid you say is a good friend to you?” 

“Yes,” I nodded, standing up straighter and stared directly into his eyes. “Peter is a very good friend to me. He really helps out a lot.” 

He hummed, looking back to Peter and asked, “How do you treat my daughter, kid?” 

“R-respectively, sir,” Peter responded, clearing his throat. “I look out for her like any friend would.” 

I scanned the area around us and saw that we indeed attracted the attention of the other students; some of them were busy texting or whispering with other kids, and others were taking pictures of what was going on. And frankly, I wasn’t too pleased with this. As much as I would have liked some privacy today, I knew that that was out of the question once Tony was gone. 

“Since this _is_ kind of a science based school, how smart are you?” 

“I’m pretty sure I’m one of the smartest in the school.” 

Tony stared at him some more, taking in the clothes, skateboard and what I now saw was another bruise on his face. _Where the hell does he go to keep getting hurt like that?_ “Are you the kind of kid that likes to get into trouble? You know, property damage to schools, tagging on walls, stealing from liquor stores? Things in that nature.” 

“Dad,” I warned, pleading to him with my eyes that he’d stop this. 

“No, sir,” Peter shook his head, not looking away from Tony. He didn’t seem to back down at all because of what Tony was asking. I was both impressed and nervous at the same time. 

“I really hope you aren’t lying to me, kid. Don’t really like it when people keep secrets from me,” Tony said, staring down at Peter to intimidate him, and I thought just wearing the Iron Man suit was intimidating enough. 

“Dad, Peter’s telling you the truth,” I insisted, getting in between the two of them, and stared up at my father. “He’s a really good guy and we really need to head inside so we can go to our first period class. Can you please go now?” 

“Sir? Is there a problem here…no way! It’s Iron Man!” I heard someone say and I turned around, seeing that it was the school’s security guards. It took a lot in me to not roll my eyes. 

“No. Everything’s fine,” he said to the one that called out to him and looked my way. “Just dropping my kid off. Although, it would be great if you guys did me the favor of keeping an eye on her for me while I’m not here.” 

My eyes narrowed, furious that he’d even suggested that. They answered back to him with so much enthusiasm that it didn’t even cause him to look away from my glare. Tony was lucky that Pepper wasn’t here; however, once she hears about this, he’ll be in _so_ much trouble with her. 

“Have a good day, honey,” he smirked; his faceplate covered his face again, and flew up, beginning his departure from here. 

I still glared up at the sky, watching him get smaller the higher he flew. “You won’t be smirking once Pepper finds out.” I looked back to Peter and apologized, “I am so sorry you had to deal with that. I did say my dad was pretty protective.” 

“You weren’t kidding.” He was staring up in the same direction I was looking, shaking his head, and looked back to me. “Maybe next time I’ll just wait inside the school before I even think about meeting up with you.” 

“Well, I would have texted you, but I was busy flying around with my dad.” I untied the straps of my backpack around my abdomen and looked around, seeing everyone that was still looking at us. 

“That was so awesome!” 

“I can’t believe Iron Man was here at school!” 

“Having the rich kid here is the best thing that’s ever happened!” 

A couple of them started making their way to me and I gulped. If there was one thing I feared, it was getting mobbed by a bunch of people with so many questions. Crooks with guns: I’m fine with. Aliens from another planet that wants to destroy New York: no problem. People who want to know about my personal life: hell no. Peter pulled me behind him, shielding me from the mob of teenagers that were surrounding us. They were asking so many questions that they all overlapped the other. “Do you know Captain America?” “Is the big green guy an alien?” “Can I have Thor’s number?” “Forget Thor. Is Captain America single?” 

“Okay, kids. That’s enough!” One of the larger security guards said, coming to stand in front of Peter and me. “I want all you inside the building before the new principal gets out here, and sees what’s happened. The bell rang and you all need to head to class. Now, come on! Let’s go!” 

The other five that were there with him began ushering the students that were trying to mob us into the school, leaving myself with Peter, and the security guard that was still there with us. I was already feeling a headache coming on, my stomach was uneasy, and I was glad I had nothing in it so that it won’t even come back up. The security guard, who’s name we found out was Joe, looked back to us, asked if we were all right and if we needed help getting into school without being ambushed again, and it was much better than what I was being asked by the other students. Peter answered for the both of us, also making sure I was fine, and gave his thanks to the security guard. 

“Are you guys sure you’re okay being on your own?” he asked, looking between Peter and myself. 

“Yeah. We’re fine,” I nodded. “Thank you for helping us back there.” 

“Yeah, man. We greatly appreciate it,” Peter added, agreeing with me. 

“You’re welcome. It’s not every day you get to help out the kid of a superhero,” he smiled, appearing very proud of himself for helping us. 

As much as I would have liked to inform him that the way Tony had put it wasn’t great, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I couldn’t bring myself to crush this man’s moment and just kept quiet, smiling appreciatively, and thanked him again. Peter and I walked into school together, and made our way to our first period class. Security seemed to have been everywhere we went, telling everyone to just get to class, and not bother us. I was very grateful that they did this, but I still couldn’t help the feeling I was getting about being in a classroom with thirty-something students trying to ask me questions about the Avengers at whatever chance they could get. 

Before we made it to class, Peter handed me my English textbook. “I got it for you in case you did show up later than the tardy bell.” 

“Wait, how did you…oh, never mind. I forgot I stuffed it in your locker Friday,” I shook my head, laughing embarrassingly, and entered the class first. “God, I really don’t know where my head is right now. I guess that happens when you don’t get a chance to eat in the morning.” 

“You haven’t eaten?” Peter repeated and I shook my head. He looked around and then to me. “Ms. Ritter isn’t here yet. Maybe you could get something from one of the vending machines before she shows up.” 

I looked to the desk in front of the class and saw that it was in fact empty. _Seems like my luck is starting to change_. “I actually brought something with me from home to eat. I’ll get started on it before she gets here.” 

I made my way to my desk in the back of the class, going as quickly as I could and sat down. I then opened up my backpack, pulled out the granola bar, and apple juice. Ripping off the plastic wrapper and took a bite, I began feeling a bit better. I had no idea how hungry I was until I had that first bite; it really didn’t take that long for me to eat all of it, and I was already moving onto the banana I had in my backpack. 

As I was about to finish it, I heard someone call out to me. “Hey, Alison. Alison?” 

I looked ahead a couple rows in front of me and saw a boy with sandy brown hair. I still wasn’t sure what his name was just yet, it was still hard trying to remember the new names of my classmates, and I was already drawing up a blank. I finished chewing, swallowed and said, “Yeah, um…?” 

“Tyler. We have also calculus together with Mr. Cooper?” 

I started thinking back and remembered that he was indeed in that class with me. “Right! Sorry.” _I really have to get better at remembering names._ “It’s still early and my brain is fried. What’s up?” 

“I just wanted to say that was really cool how your dad dropped you off here this morning.” He gave me a thumbs up and I couldn’t help but cringe on the inside. 

I gave him a tight smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that was pretty cool.” 

“Did he used to do that for you all the time back in LA?” I heard someone else ask. Looking over to my left where a girl sitting in front of Peter with black hair and green eyes was turned around in her seat. “I’m Ashley, by the way.” 

“Uh, no,” I shook my head, starting to feel uncomfortable again. “No, my dad never really dropped me off with the Iron Man suit before.” 

“I heard a rumor that he has one for everyone in the Avengers. Is it really true? No, wait. Do _you_ have one, too?” A jock sitting in front of Ashley asked. 

I was about to come up with an excuse for a lie until a boy sitting in the front of the classroom beat me to it. “Are you kidding me? If he had one for everybody in the group, they wouldn’t be called the ‘Avengers’ anymore. They’d be called the ‘Iron Avengers.’” 

“Hey, that seems like a pretty sweet name for all of them,” someone on the other side commented. 

So many people began asking questions and talking all at once; it was too much, and I couldn’t really take it anymore. I got up from my seat, stood up on the chair, and whistled to get all of their attention. “All right! That’s it. No more questions! Look, everyone, I’m sorry if you want me to answer some questions for you guys, but I don’t really have much to say. I don’t know anything about the Avengers, I’ve never actually met any of them, and I really have no idea what you guys are talking about. I’m not really open with Tony on everything, and, let’s be honest, if we were he wouldn’t tell me _anything_. To me, everything about that seems like it’s ‘need-to-know’ or ‘if I tell you, I’d have to kill you’ kind of thing. Which I know seems harsh, but that’s how I feel.” I hoped my lie worked; supposedly I was great when it came to being both persuasive and convincing, but at this point I wasn’t sure if that was even true. 

So many pairs of eyes were looking at me, all ranging from different colors, and I felt even more nervous about even saying anything. Mentally cursing myself, I got down from the chair, and didn’t look away. “So, if anyone asks about the Avengers again, I’m afraid I can’t help you,” I apologized, picked up my bottle of juice, and began drinking from it. 

I heard clapping coming from the front of the class and I could only assume it was Ms. Ritter finally showing up. I picked up my banana peel, tossed it in the trash bin near where I was sitting, and continued to drink my juice. 

“Well, I guess that young lady has certainly made her point across about being asked pointless questions,” I heard a male voice say. 

Looking up toward the front of the class, I saw a familiar face, and nearly choked on my juice. Everyone in the classroom heard me and began to laugh as soon as they looked my way. I was coughing, gasping for some air, and felt Peter gently pat my back to help me feel better. I searched my backpack for the napkins I stuffed inside, wiped my mouth to prevent the juice making my skin sticky, and looked up at Agent Clint Barton dressed in khaki pants, white dress shirt with a sweater vest over it and tie—all different from what I’d normally see him wear for work. He looked like a teacher. _Like a teacher? Oh, no!_  

“Hey, what happened to Ms. Ritter? She’s not here today?” Tyler asked, squinting at Barton and looked confused. 

“I’m afraid your usual teacher won’t be here for the rest of the school year,” he announced, placing a messenger bag on top of the desk, and looked at us. “So, I’ll be your substitute for the rest of the year.” 

The class was a mixture of murmured delightful comments and some sad ones. I was beginning to like Ms. Ritter, but I really had nothing to say about Clint being here. It seemed like what he said about both him and Natasha being close by was very true. I froze, thinking that over again, _we’ll always be around watching…_ I really hoped that doesn’t mean Natasha was here as well, but where could she be, and what did she choose to go undercover was the big question. Whatever she chose, I’m sure it was well thought out. 

“Funny how we got a new principal and teacher all in the same day, huh?” Peter mused, looking my way. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m fine,” I said too quickly, staring at Clint and blinked, looking over to Peter. “Wait, did you say new principal?” 

“Yeah. Don’t you remember what that security guard told us before we got in?” He squinted, giving me a puzzled look. 

I thought back, trying to retrace the events from this morning, and vaguely remembered something along those lines. “I guess. I must have been mad with Tony to not really pay attention.” 

“That seems to bother you a lot, doesn’t it?” 

I sighed, “You have no idea.” I went back to thinking about the new principal and had a theory: if Clint is our new English teacher, then that could only mean that Natasha is Midtown Science’s new principal. That must have been it, and as I continued thinking about it I couldn’t help but smirk to myself. _I feel so bad for anyone who’d get sent to her office._  

“Okay, guys! I need everybody’s attention on me,” Clint said, causing all of us to look ahead. “Good. My name is Mr. Barker,” he picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name on the board, “and I’m going to be your new English teacher for the rest of the year.” 

“You don’t look like an English teacher,” one of the girls from the front of the class voiced. 

“Oh, believe me. I’m sure you kids say that about every teacher you meet,” he waved it off. “Same thing will happen once you’re in college. Now, I don’t have a lesson plan set up for you guys so I’m going to show a movie for the day until I figure out what your original teacher had in mind before.” 

“Sweet! Movie day!” I heard Flash Thompson cheer and high-fived the person sitting next to him. 

“Don’t get your hopes up too much.” He was wheeling the television set over to the front of the class. “I brought a documentary about hawks.” 

A chorus of groans filled the room and I couldn’t help the smirk on my face; only Clint Barton would pick a documentary about birds to annoy anyone—especially a room full of teenagers. I watched him fiddle around with the buttons on the DVD player and TV set, getting everything set to play the documentary. As I watched him, I heard my phone make the sound it makes for a text message, and quickly took it out of my pocket to turn it on silent. 

“No cellphones in class, please,” Clint said, finishing up with the TV and DVD player, and popped in the movie. “Okay, before I start the movie, I am going to take roll and make sure all you guys are here.” He walked over to the desk, sat down in the chair and pulled a folder out of his bag. Taking out the roll sheet for this class and he called out, “Tyler Addams?” 

“Here,” Tyler answered and Clint marked the paper. 

“Rachel Brooks?” The same girl that made her comment about Clint raised her hand, and he marked her off as well. One by one, Clint called out the students that were currently present in the class, and marked off each one. Being the only one that was able to notice this, I saw him look at each student for no more than fifteen seconds to make a mental note of him or her, and then continued on to the next person. Clint continued until he reached a certain name. “Peter Parker?” 

“Right here,” Peter called, raising his hand slightly. 

Clint looked at him, nodding, and marked him off. He called off three more names and then reached _S_. “Alison Stark?” 

“I’m here,” I announced, looking at him and made eye contact with him. 

“Ah, so you’re the one who made that little speech,” he nodded and marked off my name. “Well, it’s good to meet you, Miss Stark.” 

“You, too, Mr. Barker.” _Even though I really think you being here might cause some problems._  

He continued down the list and then finished up. “All right, I’ll start the movie now.” He put down the roll sheet, picked up the control for the DVD player, and the movie began to play. 

I looked to my left and saw Peter doodle something on a sheet of paper in his notebook. Curious, I whispered, “What are you drawing?” 

“Just random drawings,” he whispered back, shrugging, and closed the notebook. “Nothing too exciting.” 

“Is it okay if I look?” 

Peter pursed his lips and shook his head. “Not now. Maybe a little later.” 

That surprised me, normally whenever Peter and I were doing anything random in class we’d show each other what it was. “Oh, all right, then.” 

“Trust me, I don’t think you’d want to see a picture of…your dad as Iron Man fighting a giant spider,” he chuckled quietly, trying to make a joke of it. 

“I would actually,” I muttered and faintly heard the sound of heels clinking against the linoleum down the hallway outside. I glanced to the door and saw a petite blonde woman enter the class, and I nearly did a double take as soon as I saw her. 

“Hi, I’m so sorry to bother you,” she said, catching Clint’s attention. “But I need to give this to you.” 

Clint sat up straighter in his chair and motioned her in. As she entered, I heard and saw all the boys in the classroom stare and whisper about Natasha with her blonde wig, black high-heels, black pencil skirt, white blouse and what appeared to be a white doctor’s lab coat. She walked over to Clint’s desk, handed him a slip a paper, and he looked it over. “Alison Stark.” 

I tensed, looking over to Clint and Natasha, and tried not to bite my lip. “Yes?” 

“Looks like the principal would like to see you,” he said, lifting up the slip to show me. 

I heard everyone else in the classroom murmur, whispering possibilities as to why I was being sent to the principal’s office, and the majority of it was about Tony being here with his Iron Man suit. Sighing, I got up from my seat and made my way over to them, stuffing my hands into the pockets of Tony’s hoodie. When I reached them, Clint handed me the paper, and I looked it over to see if I could find a name of the new principal since it obviously wasn’t Natasha. 

“Why don’t you follow Miss…” he trailed off, looking toward Natasha for clarification of her new alias. 

“Russo. I’m the school’s new nurse,” she said, giving me a soft smile. 

“You’re the nurse?!” Flash gasped, and then whistled. “I’m really looking forward to getting injured during basketball now.” 

“Thompson, enough,” Clint warned, giving Flash a look. 

I rolled my eyes at Flash and smiled back. “Nice you meet you. So I just go there now?” 

“Yes, and he said that I should escort you back my myself.” 

“Oh.” Was all I could say, finding that request strange. I haven’t even met with the new principal, and I was already starting to question some of his methods. “Do I take my stuff?” 

“I don’t think you’d need to, but you never know how long these things take,” Natasha shrugged. “I’ll just wait outside for you while you get your things.” She walked passed the TV again, every boy watching her instead of the movie, and walked out the door. 

“Well, I don’t know what you did, but good luck, kid,” Clint said, signaling me to get going. 

“Thanks,” I muttered, walking back to my desk, and picked up my backpack. I turned to Peter, quietly asking if he could put my textbook back in his locker for me and that I’d pick it up later. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he nodded, sitting back in his seat. “Hopefully he won’t be too hard on you.” 

“Let’s hope not. I’ll see you in calculus,” I waved and walked out the second door of the classroom, and saw Natasha. 

“Follow me.” She began walking and I quickly followed after her. 

We walked down the hall quietly, making sure not to disturb the other classes, and I couldn’t stop from quietly asking, “Why are you guys here?” 

“You’ll find out soon enough when we reach the principal’s office,” Natasha said, and made sure that we wouldn’t discuss anymore while we were in the halls. 

When we reached the main office, walking through every detour of the school, she opened the door and I entered, with her following right after. I looked around, seeing everyone in the office at work while Natasha made her way to the door of the new principal’s office, and opened it for me to enter. I stared at it, not sure what to make of this, and decided that I should just get it over with before it becomes worse. I walked up to the door, entered and saw Clint in the office as well—leaning against the desk of the new principal who had his chair faced the other way. 

After Natasha entered and closed the door, I let out a humorless laugh. “Okay, don’t tell me. Nick Fury is the one sitting in that chair for dramatic effect? Real good, guys. Although I don’t think everyone will warm up to the eye patch like they do on the Helicarrier, Nick.” 

“Alison, Alison, Alison…” Clint chastised gently, shaking his head. “You won’t even believe how wrong you are.” 

“What are you talking about?” I arched a brow. “Who else besides us and Nick Fury knows about you guys being a part of this?” 

“Oh, you’d be surprised, Alison,” a voice said from behind the chair. 

I tensed, my eyes widened and stared at the chair. _That voice…_ I thought, trying to gather my bearings. _It can’t be._ “What’s going on?” 

The chair moved, turning all the way around and I saw him—completely back from the dead. Phil Coulson. “It’s good to see you again, Agent Stark.” 

My knees buckled, causing me to almost fall to the floor before Clint caught me, and helped steady me. “That’s…this is…how…?” I didn’t know what to make of this. Phil was dead. _Dead._ Loki killed him by stabbing him through the back and Fury told us all about it. We all fought Loki and his army because of Phil’s death—we fought for him. 

“I know it’s hard to explain, kid. But…we also had the same reaction you did after finding out about him,” Clint said, helping me sit in one of the chairs in the office. “Nat and I didn’t find out about this until yesterday.” 

“Yesterday?” I repeated, staring from Clint to Natasha, then Phil, and back to Clint. “Who else knows about this, other than you two and Director Fury?” 

“Including you?” Phil questioned, getting up from seat. “No one else. It’s the four of you.” 

I stared at him, still being crushed by a wave of emotions that it was so difficult to pinpoint which one was which. I knew I was angry, happy, shocked; I wanted to cry, I wanted to yell, I wanted to hit something…there was just so much going on that I had no clue what emotion to stick with. There were so many emotions hitting me all at once that it was just impossible to understand which one was the most accurate. Shaking my head, I looked at my feet and asked, “Why would he lie to us?” 

“I told him to do it,” he answered, causing my head to snap back up to him. 

“Why would you have him say something like that?” I glared, definitely feeling anger win this bout of my internal turmoil with my emotions. “We all were very upset believing that you were murdered by Loki.” 

“You all needed some form of push in order to band together to stop Loki,” he explained, standing calmly in front of me with his hands folded in front of him. “The rate the seven of you were going, it would have been too late to stop Loki, and it would have had a difficult time stopping him in New York.” 

“The seven of us? Phil, I was not a choice to be a part of the Avengers,” I shook my head, thinking back to when I had first heard Fury and Phil talk about an idea to bring the others together in what was called the Avengers Initiative, and I knew I definitely wasn’t picked for it because at the time I was still training. There was no way Fury wanted someone who wasn’t fully experienced part of this. 

“Believe me, Alison. You may not know it, or even believe in it, but I’m sure the others see you as a founding member of the team, and that is a great achievement to have,” Phil said, making my anger melt away, and I felt upset again. 

I shook my head, sighing, “I still don’t see it. I’m just someone who tagged along for the ride, and it’s also a bit late now. The Avengers have disbanded and have only agreed to help out again if there was a huge threat coming to Earth.” 

“To Director Fury, it never hurts to add a new recruit in case something were to happened.” 

I let that all sink in, suddenly feeling very tired from all of this, and asked the question that was bugging me ever since I saw Clint in class. “What made you guys even think about being here?” 

“Agent Coulson thought it was a good idea to do it,” Clint said, walking over with Natasha to stand on either side of Phil. “Plus, it’ll keep your father from finding out about Coulson being alive.” 

“Unless Stark uses some of his technology again like he did on the Helicarrier,” Natasha commented, pushing aside some of the blonde hair out of her face. 

I scoffed, “Like Tony would ever hack into the school’s database and…” I trailed off, thinking it over, and groaned. “No, scratch that. That _does_ seem like something he’d do.” 

“Which is why we’re hoping that doesn’t happen at all.” Phil looked at each of us. “No one can know about me being alive until I make that announcement myself. In the mean time, I’m just a simple high school principal and will be tough, but fair to the students.” 

“Got it.” I felt my phone vibrate again and took it out of my pocket, seeing that it was a text message from Tony. 

“No cellphones in my office, Miss Stark,” Phil warned, his voice turned to that stern voice I’d hear Fury give Tony or me half of the time. 

“You’re joking?” I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. “Phil, you are not a real principal. You’re a field agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and you were also an official liaison for most of the members of this little group.” 

“Not when I’m undercover, I’m not,” he shook his head. “And while I’m undercover, it’s _Principal_ Coulson. Now, put away that cellphone or I’m going to have to confiscate it.” 

“Can’t I see what Tony wants?” 

“Miss Stark,” he warned. 

I sighed; feeling more like a teenager would with an authoritative figure at school rather than a coworker. “Fine!” I slipped my cellphone back into my hip pocket and sat quietly. “Please tell me that this meeting is almost over, and that you are not going to talk to me about Tony dropping me off with his Iron Man suit?” 

“Oh, I’m afraid I _do_ have to speak with you about that, Alison,” Phil, or I should say _Principal_ Coulson said, and walked back to his seat. As he sat down, he turned his attention back to Clint and Natasha. “You two are dismissed. I’d like to have a word with Miss Stark alone, please.” 

“You got it, Principal Coulson,” Clint said, making his way to the door with Natasha and turned to me. “Good luck, kid.” 

“Thanks.” I made sure to put enough sarcasm into that one word. 

Once I turned my attention back to Phil, he leaned over his desk slightly with his hands clasped before him on the desk. “Now, let’s talk about what’ll happen if this ever happens again.”


	7. How to Catch a Spider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I'm very sorry this took me some time to get done but like every person in the world, I had some stuff going on with my life and I had to take some time for myself to get these personal issues taken care of. But here's the chapter and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own or copyright anything relating to Marvel, The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man or anything else. I only own the OC.

“You know, I think this is the latest I’ve ever picked you up,” Happy commented, glancing at me through the rearview mirror after I had finally gotten out of school.

“Let’s just say that it’s all Tony’s fault that I’m getting out this late,” I complained, sitting back in the seat, and stared out the window. 

“How is it his fault?” he asked. 

“Since you took Pepper to work early this morning, Tony had to take me to school with his Iron Man suit, and I got in trouble with the principal because of it.” 

“You got in trouble with the principal? So you mean to tell me this whole time you had—” 

“Yep,” I interrupted him, glaring at the passing cars. “And this is a new principal, not the one that was fanboying over Tony.” 

“Wait, does the boss know about this?” he asked again. 

“No. Neither him nor Pepper know about this and I’m definitely giving Tony a piece of my mind when I get home.” I still couldn’t believe Phil did this. It was definitely the first I’ve had ever heard of someone getting detention because of a parent dropping them off at school. Well, this _was_ technically the first of knowing Iron Man’s daughter getting detention because that caused a major scene at school. _Still isn’t fair, though._  

“Mind if I watch? Since Pepper’s there, you two yelling at Tony is usually a highlight of the day.” It was true. Whenever Pepper and I double-teamed Tony over something that caused a bad outcome for me, it was a sight Happy loved to see. 

“Sure, Happy, you can watch it,” I sighed, leaning my head back. “If you don’t mind, I’m taking a little nap. Wake me up when we get there?” 

“You got it, little boss.” He gave me a small salute and I couldn’t stop the small smile from forming on my face. 

Closing my eyes, I sat more comfortably, and tried my best to sleep, but no matter how much I tried, my mind seemed to continuously wander back to the event that happened after my visit with _Principal_ Coulson.

**_{Flashback}_ **

_“Hmm, an assembly during third period,” Peter mused, sitting next to me in the school’s auditorium for the unexpected assembly our new principal arranged. “I think this day seems to be getting better.”_

_“If it means that I get to miss Cooper’s class today, I’ll forgive him for giving me after school detention,” I shrugged, crossing my legs, and put my phone away in my backpack._

_“I still can’t believe he gave you two hours of detention because your dad dropped you off,” he shook his head. “I get that it caused a major scene before school even started, but…it seems a bit harsh.”_

_“You’re telling me,” I sighed, glancing over my shoulder, and saw Clint enter with his third period class, ushering them to their seats._

_“So what do you think of our new teacher?” Peter asked, drawing my attention back to him._

_“He…he seems all right. Can’t really say much about him since it is his first day here.” I looked back to him and shrugged. “Maybe he’ll be laid back with the class.”_

_“I’m not sure, but I feel like he comes off as…strict.” Peter squinted and shook his head. “I can’t really explain it…”_

_“No, I think I get what you mean,” I said reassuringly with a smile and cringed when I heard a loud screeching sound coming from the microphone up on the stage. “Man, that was really loud.”_

_The clearing of a throat caught everyone’s attention in the auditorium and I saw Principal Coulson tap the microphone again, causing another high-pitched screeching sound to emanate off of it. “Good morning, students and staff. I've invited you all here today to introduce myself. I’m your new principal, Principal Coulson. I have been in the educational field for many years, and this is the first time I’ve been asked to be a principal. However, I never worked at this school before so…”_

_“Shoot me,” I groaned softly to Peter, hearing him chuckle quietly, and felt two of his fingers pressed against my temple._

_“But if I did that, how am I going to survive this boring assembly?” he asked quietly, drawing his finger gun away._

_“Oh, trust me. You do not need me here in order to survive this.” I gave him a teasing smile and brought my legs up on the chair to wrap my arms around them._

_He scoffed, “Are you kidding? I’ll be bored out of my mind! I need someone here to at least help me out.”_

_“Like I’m_ that _important,” I scoffed in return, and heard a throat being cleared from up ahead._

_Both Peter and I turned our attentions back up to the stage in front of us, and saw Principal Coulson give us a disapproving look. “As I was saying, I’ll be making a lot of changes here at Midtown Science, and I’ve already given out my first detention of the day. Everyone, you all know Miss Alison Stark.”_

_Every pair of eyes were on me immediately and I tensed up, wanting nothing more than to glare at Phil for doing this. I decided to just sit there and bear it, knowing that there really wasn’t anything I could do except that I would most likely get Tony back for this._

**_{End of Flashback}_**  

“Alison, it’s time to get up!” I heard Happy call out to me. 

Groaning, I sat up straighter in the seat, and carefully rubbed my eyes, being careful to avoid my eye makeup. I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed my things, and got out of the car. I stared up at the building in front of me, preparing myself to go up to thirtieth floor—which Tony called the penthouse level—and have a _very_ long discussion with my father. 

“I’m going to go park the car,” Happy said, causing me to look at him. “Make sure you wait for me so I can see what happens” 

“Sure thing, Happy,” I said, giving him the same small salute that he’d give me, and saw him get in the car, driving off to the garage to park it. When he was gone, I muttered to myself, “But it probably would have been more likely to happen if I were in a good mood.” 

Walking up to the entrance, I smiled to the doorman, who greeted me. “Good…” he paused, checking his watch and saw the time, “evening, Miss Stark.” 

“Hi, Simon,” I smiled, giving a small wave. 

“Back a bit later than from what I’ve recently seen,” he commented, trying to make friendly small talk—something I was starting to enjoy with him. 

“Yeah…something came up, and I was distracted by it so…” I shrugged, leaving it up to his imagination. 

“Well, it’s good to see you back, Miss Stark.” He tipped his hat and opened the door for me. 

“Thank you, Simon,” I smiled again, waving to the older man, and entered the building, making my way quickly to the elevator. 

After I hit the button and it opened, I entered, and pushed the button to the top floor—waiting as I gathered the strength I’d need to speak with him. I wasn’t ever really an angry person, I’m usually quite content with things, but I supposed I did have a tendency to wanting some form of payback. Even if this time it was my own father. I heard the doors slide open, seeing that I was on my floor, and walked out, making my way toward where I lived. When I reached the door, I opened it, entered, and the smell of what I was pretty sure was pasta sauce filled the room. Closing the door behind me, I walked over to the kitchen and saw Pepper standing over the stove, and tasting the sauce with a clean spoon. Looking around, I saw Charlie sitting close to where she was, hoping that she’d drop some food on the floor for him to get. 

“Hi, Pepper,” I greeted, making my presence known. 

She jumped slightly, startled, and looked my way. “Alison! I was wondering when you’d get home.” She put down the spoon, walked over to me, and pulled me into a hug. Looking over her shoulder, I saw Charlie still sitting where he was, looking at us and whined a little. When she pulled away, she smiled. “I’m making spaghetti tonight for dinner, along with a salad, and some garlic bread.” Pepper looked to Charlie and said, “No, Charlie. You have your dinner over there.” She pointed to his bowl full of untouched dog food, which caused him to whimper again. 

“Everything smells great in here,” I commented, feeling my stomach grumble at just the thought of eating it later. The smell of the tomato and basil sauce, along with the smell of ground turkey meat (Pepper has recently began using it instead of ground beef) was starting to make my mouth water. No wonder my dog was begging for some of it. “Have you seen Tony?” 

“He is in his little office,” she said, going over to the stove and stirred. “How come?” 

“I have a bone to pick with him,” I said, walking away from the kitchen, dropped my backpack on the couch, and made my way there. 

As I walked to the room, hearing the quickly shuffling sounds of Pepper’s feet against the hard wood floor, I was able to hear sounds coming from the room and it wasn’t Tony’s music for a change. When I reached the room, I peeked through the small opening between the door and the frame, and heard a cheery male voice say, “Nice shot!” followed by a smug, “I already know I’m great at this.” Shaking my head, I opened the door and entered, seeing Tony play with the Wii. It was a sight I’m rarely used to seeing, but knew that it only happens during the days where he gets ticked, usually he did this to help occupy his mind away from whatever was bothering him, and it also meant that he wouldn’t really touch any of his stuff incase he broke it out of anger. 

He looked over his shoulder and turned his attention back to the game. “Well, if it isn’t my teenage daughter. Care to join me in a game of Wii golf?” 

“I am not taking any pleasantries from you right now, Tony,” I glared, trying to remain as calm as possible. 

At the use of his name, he paused the game, and turned his attention to him. “Someone’s a little on edge right now. What happened?” 

I was going to answer until Pepper walked in with both Charlie and Happy following right behind her. She looked at me and saw my facial expression. “Alison, honey, what’s wrong? Are you all right?” 

“No, I am not,” I said, glancing her way and then to my father. “I got in trouble today at school because of Tony.” 

“Because of me? What did I do?” he questioned, squinting, and crossed his arms. 

“I got detention today because of you!” I snapped, feeling very annoyed and angry at the same time. “Thanks to you dropping me off at school with the Iron Man suit, I got in trouble for causing a scene—that _you_ caused with Peter—and was nearly mobbed at school by all the other students.” 

“You dropped her off with the Iron Man suit?” Pepper questioned him, turning her gaze to him while I caught Happy fully enter the room with Charlie, and took a seat in a chair not too far away from us. “Tony, what the hell were you thinking? You know Alison likes to keep to herself whenever she’s out in public.” 

“Okay, first of all: she _begged_ me to take her with the suit,” he countered, uncrossing his arms. 

“I didn’t beg,” I rebuffed weakly, remembering how badly I had to get to school this morning. 

“Oh no. You did.” He looked my way and turned his attention back to Pepper. “She told me that she _had_ to get to school, even though I told her what would be so wrong about her missing one day.” 

“She’s still new to the school, Tony,” Pepper said, shaking her head. “And this is her senior year. Her school’s guidelines specifically state that a senior can’t really miss so many days during their final year.” 

“Oh, please. Alison is smarter than any of those kids there. She could have caught up quickly than anyone else if she were to miss more than three months worth of school,” Tony waved it off. 

 _Like I_ want _to do something like that,_ I mentally scoffed. 

“But she can’t do that, Tony,” she sighed and raised her hands. “We’ll get back to that later. Right now, we have something else to discuss.” Pepper looked to me. “Did you say you got detention because of him dropping you off?” 

“Yes, that’s where I’ve been this whole time,” I nodded, looking back to her. “The principal didn’t like that I caused a scene before classes even began, but, in my defense, it was all Tony’s fault because he started it.” 

“My fault? How was it my fault?” he questioned, taking off the strap for the controller on his wrist and put it down. 

“You were being the usual overprotective father that you are while all Peter did was try to be polite with you,” I explained. “Do you have _any_ idea how embarrassing and annoying that is?” 

“Is it my fault that I just don’t trust the kid?” 

“He’s a nice guy,” I sighed, feeling exasperated and looked to Pepper for help. 

“Tony, you have to understand that this is Alison’s life,” she said, walking up to him, and made him look at her. “She needs to do things on her own and hangout with people that she deems as good.” 

“Pepper, he looks like just some punk kid,” he challenged, earning an eye roll from me. 

“He isn’t; Peter is a straight A student and is top of our class,” I paused and realized something. “Or _was_ until I showed up, maybe. I don’t know. I really don’t know how school systems really work these things out, but that’s not what I’m trying to say. He’s a good person; he lives with his widowed aunt and helps her out with things as much as he possibly can.” 

“Widowed aunt?” he repeated, both him and Pepper stared at me. “You’re making that up.” 

“I’m not,” I shook my head as I stared up at him. “Peter’s uncle died not that long ago and this was the man that’s raised him since he was a little kid. The way Peter spoke of him, I can tell how much he admired and respected him so much. I can tell that he deeply is upset over his uncle’s death and you have to believe me when I say that Peter is a good person.” 

“Alison, why don’t you let me handle this,” Pepper said and I was about to refuse until she cut me off. “You are making good points, but I’d also like to say something about this.” 

Sighing, I let her speak and waited patiently. 

She turned her attention back to Tony. “As I said, she’s right. She’s told me so much about this boy and I can also see that he’s a good kid. Tony, you should be a little more lenient with her. Remember what happens to teenagers with strict and overprotective parents?” 

“She’s not the rebellious type, Pep,” Tony said, shaking his head and still being unreasonable. 

“Of course she isn’t, but what if she was?” Pepper questioned. “She would have always fought back with you and it wouldn’t be the usual banter the both of you do every day. This would have been worse. Just please take that into consideration.” 

Tony sighed, thinking over everything Pepper had said and nodded. “Fine.” He looked my way, looking a little uneasy about it and I couldn’t help but smirk inwardly about it. “I…apologize for being rude to your friend.” 

“You should just apologize to him,” I muttered. 

“Alison,” Pepper scolded, making me flinch. “Your father is trying his best with this. You also have to understand that this is also hard for him.” 

“You’re not kidding,” Happy chuckled, making all three of us look at him and he stopped. “I’ll…I’ll just keep my mouth shut.” 

“Why are you even in here, Happy?” Tony asked, raising a brow as he stared at his friend, and then saw Charlie. “And what the hell is that dog doing in here? Out!” 

“Tony, be nice to him,” Pepper chastised him; lightly smacking his arm and walked over to Charlie. She kneeled near where he was and he walked over to her, nuzzling against her stomach. “Charlie is good boy and needs to be treated as such.” 

“You tell him, Pepper!” I gave her a thumbs up and smirked at Tony when he turned to me. “It’s true. You should treat him better.” 

“Why? He’s not my dog.” 

“Tony, Charlie is the family dog. He should be loved by all of us equally.” She scratching his head and he nuzzled against her again, tail wagging. 

“I’d rather have Dum-E in the house again,” Tony said, sounding like his usual self again. 

“I miss Dum-E,” I pouted and looked to him. “How long does he have to stay at the Tower?” 

“Maybe another two weeks and then I’ll have him here, and I’m going to bring U over as well.” 

“Perfect, it’ll feel just like home again,” I smiled. I really did miss those robots; just like JARVIS, Dum-E and U had their own personalities that I loved so much. Plus, not many people realized that my father treated them respectfully, they grew to have human-like qualities. “Hey, wait, didn’t you also bring Butterfingers, too?” 

“I did, they’re all at the Tower, where I’ll go and see how they are for a while, and then I’ll decide to bring them here,” he explained. “But I also feel like I’m better off just leaving them there because once the Tower is repaired, there’s not point in bringing them here.” 

“We’re still going to move there?” 

“I only have a six month lease on this place, Alison. Once the Tower is up and running again, we’re going to be there.” 

“Great…I love to move,” I grumbled. “Well, at least I’ll be closer to certain places for when I need to be out at night.” 

“See, already the future move is working in your favor,” Tony said, sounding smug. 

“Okay, you two,” Pepper called, earning our attention. “Alison, I want you to set the table, and wash up for dinner. Tony, turn off the game and come to the dining room. Are you staying with us tonight, Happy?” 

“I’d love to stay tonight,” he said, petting Charlie and got up from where he was. 

“That’s great to hear,” she smiled and clasped her hands together. “Now, come on. Let’s go.” She walked out of the room, with Charlie and me following after her to get everything set.

* * *

“It’s about time you got here.” 

“Sorry!” I panted, feeling somewhat out of breath as I finally reached Clint and Natasha on the roof of one of the buildings in Times Square. “I had dinner with the family and Pepper gave me some chores to do.” 

“You get chores?” Clint chuckled, surprised. “Who knew the rich kid had chores?” 

“Tony has a few as well,” I said, glaring at him. “And his are worse than mine.” He laughed even more, earning an eye roll from Natasha and I asked, “So, what’s the plan? Did anything happen before I got here?” 

“Not much happened, but Wade says hi,” she smirked when I made a disgusted face. 

“You guys still _talk_ to him?” I gaped, remembering back to the last time we saw that guy was during a very important mission, my first with Natasha and Clint, and he went nuts (not that he wasn’t known for being that way) and nearly got us all killed in the process. 

“He keeps coming in contact with us. No matter how many times we try, Deadpool knows how to find us,” Clint said, tossing over a small device my way. “And, I’ll admit, some of his methods aren’t _that_ great, but they are pretty impressive.” 

I caught it and looked it over; it was the same size as an iPhone and after hitting a few buttons, an email from Deadpool showed up. I groaned, “I can’t stand the guy! What gives him the idea that he’ll work with us again?” 

“Just let him think that,” Clint said offhandedly. “Gives us the chance to change some of our contact information around so he can’t find us for a few weeks, but he sure missed you.” 

I shuddered, “I’m not into psychopaths.” 

“No, your type just seems to be a scrawny kid with brown hair, rides a skateboard and wears jackets that are a bit loose on him with sort of baggy pants,” he smirked and I glared at him. 

“He’s not scrawny and Peter is a friend.” I crossed my arms, glaring at him some more when he started to laugh. “It’s the truth!” 

“Whatever you say, kid,” he chuckled again. 

“Back to the task at hand,” Natasha said, making us look at her. “We need to figure out how we can find, and get Spider-Man.” 

“You’re the only one who’s spoken to him,” Clint said, looking at me. “You must know a way to catch him again.” 

“I didn’t catch or find him my first two times,” I said, biting my lip. “He found me. I’m not even sure where exactly he’d be now, but my guess is anywhere around here. From all I’ve read and seen from both news and police reports about him, he’s mostly around Times Square.” 

“Well, it shouldn’t be too hard since his biggest fan will make his routine news report,” she said, pointing to the jumbotron not too far from our location. It was as big as the other one not too far from here, but this one was different, and sported the initials “DBC” with what appeared to be a horn—scratch that, _bugle_ —gracefully spinning on top of it. 

“Wait, you mean if we stay here to listen to J. Jonah Jameson’s rant about how much he hates Spider-Man, he’ll show up?” It seemed too simple. I had doubts that this could work. 

“Either he’s ranting or reporting something about the guy, the bug will show up,” Clint chimed in, walking over to the ledge, and looked around. This was always something he did; always scoping his surroundings like a hawk. “We even set up something for him.” 

“What?” 

“Over there I left a few things that’ll catch his attention.” He pointed to the building near the jumbotron, one that wasn’t too far from where we were. “Once he’s distracted, I’ll send one of my arrows over, and he’ll be trapped in a net,” he paused, grimacing. “If Fury’s wrong about this weird power he has.” 

“Fury knows about his powers?!” I clamped my hands over my mouth, surprised I shouted. I took them off and spoke more softly, “When did Fury find out about Spider-Man’s powers?” 

“He’s been doing some research and had a couple of experts look at videos of Spider-Man’s fighting style,” Clint said, turning his attention back to us. 

“Some of them being entomologists and they think that Spider-Man might have this…sense,” Natasha shrugged, brow creased. “It’s hard to explain from what they told us, but he can sense when danger is coming his way. We want to see if that’s true.” 

“And if it is?” I asked; eyebrow arched as I thought over all this and all the possibilities were not in our favor. 

“Remember these little bad boys you made?” He took one of my stun pellets out of his pocket. “Fury asked for a couple of these to be modified to have a sensor. I left some over there and if he walks close to one of them, he’ll be out faster than you can say—” 

“Spider-Man stinks!” A very loud voice shouted, causing Clint to wince, and turned to look at the jumbotron across from us. 

J. Jonah Jameson’s stern face (not one that could give Director Fury a run for his money) was somewhat red, and he appeared like he was going to have a pretty long time giving the public his two cents about Spider-Man. He was an older man, older than my father, with a mustache, dark hair that was graying on the sides, and he seemed to have a lot of creases along his face for yelling all the time. I remembered when we were here earlier in the spring and he was only promoting the new network for the Daily Bugle, but now it seemed all J.J. did was complain about Spider-Man. 

“Huh, that couldn’t have come at better timing,” I mused, staring at the giant screen. “Now all we do is wait?” 

“Hopefully not too long,” Natasha said, sitting down on the ground. “If our math is right, Spider-Man should be here soon—if he’s not busy saving people.” 

“Okay, I want to know something.” I turned my attention over to Clint, watching him walk back over to us and asked, “How come he found you instead of you finding him?” 

I sighed, really not in the mood to get into it. “It’s kind of a long story.” 

“We got time,” he smirked, with the sounds of Jameson’s gruff voice speaking in the background. “Spill it, kid.” 

“All right. It started like this…” I went on to tell them. Letting them know about my search for Spider-Man that first night I was out around here, and how I was caught by a couple of thugs. As I told them about my little encounter with the men, I caught Natasha smirking to herself. In the back of my head I had an inkling she was feeling very proud of herself for training me in what to do with situations like that. Of course, she was a co-mentor with Phil, but I supposed she had every right to be that way. When I finished telling them everything, including Central Park and when we reached my building, and also the following night, I saw both Natasha and Clint share a look. “What?” 

“We just find it weird that he helped you out like that,” Clint voiced, earning a nod from Natasha. 

“You find it weird that a superhero helped me?” I repeated, feeling confused about what he said. “I don’t get it. We also help people as well, how is what Spider-Man did any different?” 

“You attracted the attention of a couple of punks, that is something that normally doesn’t happen,” he said, toying with one of his arrows in his hands. “But how you guys handled it, I guess I’ll give you some credit. Especially since you managed break someone’s nose.” 

“I’d like to see you go down a dark alley around Manhattan, as a girl, and not attract a couple a punks’ attention,” I grumbled, folding my arms. 

Before he even said anything else, there was movement toward the other side of the building we were standing on, and we looked to find the source of it. I saw a flash of red and blue, and recognized who it was. Spider-Man certainly showed up just in time to catch J.J.’s show, and landed on the building Clint showed me a while ago. I was shocked and impressed. I felt someone grab my arm and I was yanked down to crouch on the ground. 

Turning to Clint, he moved his finger to his mouth in a “shush” motion and said, “We need to keep quiet or else he’ll know we’re here.” 

“And how are you going to send over the arrow to trap him?” I questioned, smirking at his puzzled look. 

“I’ll still send it over,” he shrugged, getting his bow that was next to his high-tech quiver full of arrows, and got the appropriate one for this. Standing up, I saw him aim toward the building, and shot the arrow. He quickly crouched down again and peeked over what was the small barrier surrounding the rooftop. 

I peeked over as well, quickly slipping on my sunglasses, hit the night vision setting to see the other side clearly, and saw Spider-Man look around to find the arrow Clint shot. I quietly said, “I thought you don’t normally miss your targets?” 

“What makes you think I missed?” 

 _What did he mean by that?_ I continued to watch Spider-Man as he walked over to the arrow, and picked it up, but while that happened, one of the stun pellets that was on the ground stunned him, and he fell right where he was standing. I gaped, taking off my glasses and looked to Clint. “It worked.” 

“I can’t believe you even doubted me,” he shook his head as he got up. 

“Okay, then I have one question: how exactly are we getting over there?” 

“With these.” I turned my attention over to Natasha and saw her press a button on a small remote control, and then saw two S.H.I.E.L.D. issued hover-cycles appear. It did seem like a wise decision to have them camouflaged to blend in with the surroundings on the rooftop—helps not to draw attention up here. 

“Can I use one?” 

“Nope,” Clint said firmly, walking over to one of the hover-cycles, and climbed on. “You have two choices: ride with me or ride with Nat. Your call.” 

I sighed; going over to the one Natasha just finished getting on, and climbed on myself after. Both Natasha and Clint brought the cycles to life, and the cycles began to lift into the air. I wrapped my arms around Natasha’s waist, and we flew over to the other rooftop where Spider-Man was still knocked out, but this time I noticed the netting that he was trapped in. When they landed, I quickly got off, even before Natasha turned off the hover-cycle, and quietly made my way over to him. It didn’t feel right doing this to him, I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and I wasn’t sure why that was. Maybe I was feeling guilty for doing this to him. 

Hearing the sounds of footsteps behind me, I looked over my shoulder and saw Clint and Natasha walk over to where I was. Clint knelt to the ground, removing the net off Spider-Man, and moved him to a sitting position. Spider-Man’s head hung down and I was tempted to move it back. 

“Do you think we should unmask him? Take a look and see who’s under this thing?” Clint asked, moving back and looked to us. 

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea,” I shook my head, not taking my eyes off Spider-Man. “If he wakes up, he’ll fight back. We have to calmly talk to him.” I looked back to them and watched for their reactions. 

“Seems like a smart move,” Natasha agreed. “Besides, we don’t know how fast this guy is; if we try anything, he’ll fight and we’ll have a hard time fighting back. Even if we have a slight advantage over him.” 

Clint sighed and nodded, “All right.” 

I heard a noise to my left; looking in that direction, I didn’t find anything until I looked down and saw Spider-Man. He was groaning softly, as if the effect from the stun pellet was wearing off. I was about to kneel down until I felt a hand grab hold of my elbow. Turning my head, I saw that it was Clint who had stopped me. 

“Let me take a look at this.” 

“But—” 

“I can probably fight him off if he does fight us first,” he said, pulling me away from Spider-Man, and began making his way over to him. 

“He won’t hurt us,” I insisted, glancing toward the almost conscious hero on the ground. “I have a better chance talking to him because he knows me.”

“Agent Stark, I got this.” He walked over to Spider-Man and knelt down again. I watched, silently hoping that Spider-Man doesn’t freak out, and take this the wrong way. Last thing I’d want is for a fight to break out. 

Spider-Man groaned again, shaking his head in what I assumed was to shake off the feeling the stun pellet gave, and I kept a close watch on both him and Clint. I really wasn’t sure what would happen, but as soon as I saw Clint’s hand extend to touch Spider-Man’s shoulder, everything happened way too fast. Spider-Man jumped up in the air and knocked Clint out of the way. Natasha reached for her own weapons and began to fight with Spider-Man—which he again dodged out of the way so quickly. Clint got up, grabbed his bow and an arrow, and was ready to aim at Spider-Man until I stood in front of him and called out to them. 

“No! Stop!” 

They both froze and stared at me, causing Natasha to almost take a swing at Spider-Man until I gave her a look. She sighed and moved away from him, making her way over to Clint. I looked to him and nodded. 

“It’s okay, Hawkeye. You can put that down,” I said, eying his bow and stood perfectly still. 

“Are you sure about that, Agent Stark?” he asked, still not relaxing his grip on the string. 

“Yes. You just caught him off guard.” _Come on, Clint. Listen to me._  

He looked over my shoulder to Spider-Man and slowly relaxed his arm, lowering the bow. Sighing with relief, I turned to Spider-Man, and apologized, “I’m really sorry about this.” 

“What’s going on, Alison?” Spider-Man asked, staring down at me. 

“We have some things we’d like to discuss with you, Spider-Man,” Natasha said, causing the both of us to look at her. 

“I’m sorry and you are?” 

“I’m Agent Romanoff with S.H.I.E.L.D. and this is my partner Agent Barton,” she said, introducing both herself and Clint, who was still tensed. 

“More S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?” I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t too pleased with this. 

“I did say that more might show up because I couldn’t get it done myself, didn’t I?” I muttered, feeling a little uneasy about this, but knew there were things that needed to be done, and was glad to have Clint and Natasha around to help for this. “But she’s right. We do have things we need to talk to you about, Spider-Man, and I’m pretty sure you can’t say no to any of this.”


	8. Announcement!! June 8, 2016

**So I normally don't do these type of things, I mostly put my announcements on my Tumblr page, but I felt like this is the best way to go about this. I'm officially coming back to this fic after the two year hiatus I put on it. It was mostly due to things happening in my personal life and I had to get things back on track again. But since I recently started a new job, I've been having this new creative drive and I knew I had to get back to work on this fic. However, I was going back and I didn't really feel like it was going the way I wanted it to. So, I'm revamping the chapters! YAY! I only have the first three edited/revamped and I'm planning to have the first revamped chapter up next week. And for those who might or might not know, this fic is also on my FanFiction account and that will also get the same treatment, especially since I originally uploaded it there and it has a little more chapters than it does on here. For everyone that stuck by this fic, thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the revamped chapters as well as the other chapters I never got around to posting on here. And for those that recently read this fic, thank you for liking this but I also hope you like the updates I've made :)**

**Thanks and I hope to see you all soon! :D**


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